About City Bureau

City Bureau is a journalism lab reimagining local media. We equip people with skills and resources, engage in critical public conversations and produce information that directly addresses people’s needs. Drawing from our work in Chicago, we aim to equip every community with the tools it needs to eliminate information inequity to further liberation, justice and self-determination.

About Chicago Documenters

City Bureau’s Documenters program creates a new form of civic infrastructure that makes local democracy real and accessible to anyone. We do this by training and paying community members to attend and take notes at local public meetings, turning the knowledge, relationships, and capacity of local residents into a powerful community information resource. Since launching Documenters in Chicago in 2016, local news and community organizations nationwide have adopted the program through our custom Documenters.org platform and the Documenters Network.

In Chicago we’ve trained more than 1,000 people to find, analyze, and share information relevant to their lives and communities. We provide weekly assignment opportunities for Chicagoans to document local government meetings, cultivate a community of local Documenters through relationship building and events, equip community members with civic information through special projects, and evolve and innovate on the Documenters program model.

About the role

City Bureau is seeking a Director to lead the Documenters program in Chicago. The Documenters program began in Chicago. As we continue to grow the program nationally, we want our work in Chicago to be a flagship program that is effectively managed, innovating on the program model, and continuing to support and engage a robust community of Chicago Documenters. We are looking for a Director who can evolve the program, manage a team, and deepen our roots and relationships with communities on the South and West sides of Chicago.

We are looking for someone who has experience managing programs and teams. The ideal candidate will be detail-oriented in managing the program and its systems, and can engage in strategic conversations about the Documenters program both locally and nationally. We are seeking someone who can build relationships, collaborate effectively, and get results, and has a knack for building relationships with community members and partner organizations.

Location: Hybrid in Chicago

You should apply if…

You are excited about strengthening civic life and creating new pathways for participation in the production, consumption and distribution of locally relevant civic information

You have a knack for building systems for effective program management

You have the ability to strategically innovate and evolve programs

You are deeply rooted in communities on the South and West sides of Chicago

Responsibilities

Manage Documenters program in Chicago, including management of core programmatic systems and workflows, such as our weekly assignment workflow and AirTable system

Manage a team of two staff, lead weekly team tactical meetings, and contribute to Documenters departmental leadership team

Develop and manage special projects that engage Documenters to promote local knowledge of Chicago and its civic processes

Build Chicago Documenters into our flagship Documenters program over time, by ensuring efficiency, effectiveness, and leading on innovation and community engagement

Implement relevant key priorities in our 2025-27 strategic plan

Collaborate with other Documenters Program staff, such as our Product team and Documenters Network team, on evolving the Documenters program model

Work with City Bureau’s editorial and communications teams to tell the story of the Documenters Program and make sure Documenters’ work reaches people who can use it in innovative ways

Cultivate a network of local partners in media, community organizing, education, academia and government who are consistently using Documenters.org as part of their regular work and sharing feedback with City Bureau

Apply an equity framework to programmatic decisions to ensure the Documenters program in Chicago reflects the greatest need as it applies to race, gender and other demographics (see City Bureau’s Community Engagement Guidelines).

Qualifications

At least three years of experience managing a team and/or leading projects where people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and abilities feel they can do their best work

At least three years of managing complex programs

Ability to be a player/coach who can lead teams and jump in where needed

A systems-thinker who can build and evolve programs for efficiency and impact

Adept project manager who creates clarity, builds buy-in, and leads teams to results

Ability to zoom in and out: detail-oriented and able to dig into the weeds, and connect it to the big picture

Innovative and able to creatively and strategically evolve the program

Collaborative: able to clearly and consistently communicate and collaborate with other teams, and create mutually beneficial goals on shared projects

Growth-oriented with a low ego; demonstrated ability to learn from past actions, individually and collectively, and apply insights to help our teams be successful in the future

High degree of flexibility, able to be self-directed and able pivot to develop creative solutions to organizational challenges

Deeply rooted in the South and West sides of Chicago

Experience cultivating deep relationships, trust and solutions with a community (we know this can mean many things and want to hear how it manifests in your work)

Ability to work a flexible schedule that may require some nights and weekends

Experience with the following tools is a plus: Google tools (Gmail, Docs, Sheets), Slack, Asana, AirTable

We expect that the strongest candidates will have the above skills and areas of expertise in varying degrees. If you don’t have every qualification, please consider applying, and use your application to tell us about the skills you bring that would help us build this team.

Compensation, Benefits and Support

$90,000 annually. City Bureau uses a universal compensation that includes fixed annual raises currently set at 3.5%
Full time with benefits package including health care, dental, vision, life insurance
Employer sponsored 401k plans, with 100% employer match up to 4% of salary
$1,000 annual technology and work tools allowance
$1,000 professional development allowance
15 days paid vacation, not including health days
11 company holidays each year, which may be exchanged for employees who celebrate other holidays
Flexible work schedule—some night/weekend hours will be required
A 4.5 day week for most of the year. For three months during the summer, City Bureau operates on a 4 day work week.
Occasional travel for conferences or organizational events will be required
A culture of intentional professional development and organizational learning

Our Anticipated Timeline

We’re projecting the following timeline for this hiring process. We will notify candidates of any shifts as we move through the process.

Application closes October 13, 2024

Within two weeks of closing applications, you will know if you’ve moved onto the interview stage

Within two weeks of your interview, you’ll know if you moved onto the case exercise stage

Within two weeks of your case exercise completion, you’ll know if you moved onto the final interview

We expect to make a final offer by mid-November

City Bureau is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

City Bureau jobs

Chicago Director, Documenters Program