Overview: C&EN

C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) produces authoritative, award-winning journalism from around the world of chemistry, including research, education, industry, funding, and regulatory policy. It is published by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society dedicated to a single discipline, and is widely considered one of the major benefits of membership. C&EN’s weekly magazine reaches approximately 150,000 members of ACS, and its daily website receives more than 7 million page views per year. Its editorial team consists of five major desks: the science desk, the business desk, the policy desk, the content partnerships desk, and the ACS News desk.

Position Summary:

1. Coordinate coverage of global scientific news and trends. Work with writers, both staff and freelance, to develop stories.
2. Commission, shape, and edit longer exclusives, and multi-reporter packages–ensuring that they are accurate, balanced, and compelling. Work with the science news editor to ensure a regular stream of similarly high quality breaking news about research breakthroughs.
3. Oversee the work and career growth of a group of 8 staff reporters and editors.
4. Nurture a global network of talented freelance writers.
5. Via C&EN’s content management system, prepare stories for publication on all digital and print channels.
6. Work with C&EN’s Media Production Lab and its video and audio specialists to create images, infographics, video, and podcasts that engage and inform audiences.
7. Work with C&EN’s Audience team to find the widest possible audience for your reporters’ work.
8. Nurture contacts in the chemical sciences and science journalism communities through attendance at events, email and phone interaction, and social media audience building.
9. Contribute to editorial strategy decisions across the newsroom.

Required Skills:

1. Proven ability to lead and manage staff and freelance writers creating news and feature content for digital and print platforms.
2. Strong editorial judgement, journalistic values and ethics, and oral communication skills.
3. Experience conceptualizing, developing, and shaping powerful, engaging, and accurate stories that resonate with a sophisticated scientific audience.
4. Ability to conceive, describe, and assign a range of multiplatform story forms, including articles, interactive infographics, data stories, personal profiles, and more.
5. The ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven, high-stakes environment with limited supervision.
6. Knowledge of the latest social media platforms updates and capabilities and how to use them to engage with C&EN’s audiences.
7. Knowledge of SEO and social media best practices.

Required Experience:

• A college degree in chemistry or a related scientific field is required; education in journalism is highly desirable.
• 8+ years’ experience in writing and editing for a broad, technically trained audience is required.
• 4+ years’ demonstrated management experience managing staff writers or freelancers
• Proven skill in assigning, editing, and creating digital news, features, and multimedia.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills, and the ability to handle multiple projects at once and meet overlapping deadlines are required.
  Along with a resume, applicants must submit or link to three samples of stories they helped shape. Tell us in a cover letter what you can bring to this position.

Job Location: Flexible, reporting to the Boston-based Editorial Director.

EEO/Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran