Prep Sports Team Leader

The Star Tribune is the Upper Midwest’s largest news organization, with audience numbers consistently in the top five in the country among regional and national peers. Building on an extraordinary legacy that includes seven Pulitzer Prizes and hundreds of other awards, the Star Tribune is an unrivaled force for journalistic excellence in Minnesota. It is also a company that is transforming – realigning to better serve its digital audience through innovative partnerships, technology strategies, and a refreshed strategic direction. Our company has a vision to create the leading model for local news in America – driving innovation in media to make every Minnesotan’s life better. We are looking for dynamic leaders to help create that model. We are excited to work with people who care about journalism and democracy and are eager to re-invent one of our state’s most trusted companies for an era of growth that embraces advanced technologies and strategies for excellence.

Job summary: Team Leader for our Prep Sports Team

The Star Tribune is seeking a creative and entrepreneurial editor to help transform its highly valued high school sports coverage into a statewide franchise.

You will succeed in this role by helping your reporters find and produce compelling news and enterprise stories about athletes, their families, coaches and the communities they represent at big and small schools across Minnesota. Game coverage will play a secondary role to insightful and timely news scoops as well as enterprise and accountability reporting around prominent issues such as athlete safety, diversity and gender equity, the oversight of governing bodies and the growing impact of name, image and likeness rules at the preps level.

You must excel at all aspects of story development and will help your reporting teams create and deliver ambitious, useful and distinctive journalism beyond the traditional story format. You have a vision for how to make this journalism an indispensable part of our readers’ lives.

Prep sports is a key driver of digital subscriptions at the Star Tribune and a critical tool for growing our statewide presence. You will constantly challenge yourself and your staff with a simple question: Is this something our readers would willingly pay to read?

You Will

• Collaborate with the Sports Editor, the Prep Sports Director and other news leaders to determine daily, weekly, and ongoing coverage strategies across multiple platforms.
• Be relentlessly audience centric. Ensure that reporters and others on your team are developing and implementing data- and audience-informed coverage plans for their topic areas.
• Be committed to growing the Star Tribune’s off-platform presence for this content.
• Collaborate closely with the Star Tribune’s Audience, Product, Consumer Growth and Revenue teams to ensure our journalism reaches its widest audience, and adhering to best practices around analytics, search and discovery.
• Engage with community leaders, citizens and subscribers at forums and other events, articulating how the Star Tribune lives its journalistic mission and values.
• Demonstrate personal leadership skills with an emphasis on respectful inclusion while driving for excellence.
• Effectively recruit, hire and train for a broad range of skillsets.
• Lead and deliver transformational edits as needed on major initiatives.
• Enforce deadlines on stories from the quick turn to the long-range.
• Work regularly from the Star Tribune’s downtown headquarters.
  
  

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in journalism or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience.
• Sharp editorial judgment and the ability to work with reporters who have a wide range of experience on the beat — serving as a coach, manager and guide in a constantly changing news environment.
• A commitment to using 21st century digital tools, tracking and analyzing online audience trends and building strategies to engage readers.
• Management skills that foster a creative and supportive culture.
• Communication and collaboration skills to work across a matrixed organization.
• Experience managing a budget, conducting timely performance reviews, and hiring.
• Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize assignments, track budgets and multitask in a high-pressure environment.
• A commitment to the Star Tribune’s standards, mission and values, including journalism that reflects the diversity of Minnesota and the Star Tribune’s audience.
  
  

To Apply

Please upload a resume and a memo describing how you would approach the opportunity to build on our current Prep Sports coverage and expand it across Minnesota.

Pay: This position starts at $89,317, the H-scale level in the Star Tribune’s Newspaper & Communications Guild contract.

More About The Star Tribune

At the Star Tribune, we believe that our employees are our most valuable assets. We go above and beyond to ensure their happiness, growth and overall well-being. Here is a glimpse into the exceptional benefits we offer:

Modern downtown office with a free fitness center and rooftop patio. Commuting subsidy, medical, dental, and vision insurance. Wellness program with financial incentives. Paid time off that includes flexible holidays to honor the preferences of employees, plus one volunteer day and two wellness days. 401(k) with company match, parental and caregiving leaves, flexible work arrangements, employee assistance program, pet insurance, tuition reimbursement, flexible spending, and health savings accounts.

Selected in 2023 to Diversity MBA's inaugural list of Top 25 Outstanding Leadership and Diversity Impact Awards.