About Chicago Public Media
Chicago Public Media is one of the nation’s largest local nonprofit news organizations. Home to WBEZ 91.5FM, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Vocalo. Chicago Public Media reaches more than 3.3 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. As a mission-driven organization, we aspire to be the most trusted news source Chicagoans turn to for understanding the people, events, and ideas shaping our community.
Chicago Public Media is a 100% community-funded newsroom powered by nearly 97,000 members whose support makes our journalism possible. This sustained community investment helped drive nationally recognized work in 2025, including 29 awards from esteemed organizations, including the Public Media Journalists Association, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the National Association of Black Journalists.
We believe independent journalism is essential to a healthy democracy and that access to objective, fact-based news is a right for every citizen. We serve the public interest by creating diverse content that informs and enriches our community, supported by a dedicated staff of approximately 250 professionals.
For more information, please see the Chicago Public Media Annual Report.
Position Summary
As our Chief of Staff, you will serve as the "right hand" to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC), managing journalistic content alongside high-level project management, multi-platform strategic initiatives, and operational oversight.
Your primary objective will be to support the EIC at a strategic level, driving business results and organizational alignment by acting as a liaison between the editorial department in addition to the business side of the organization. In this role, you will maintain a focus on long-term projects, partnerships, and strategic goals that extend beyond daily editorial cycles.
Our ideal candidate is a research-oriented "completist" with a proven track record of launching and successfully sustaining major initiatives. This role requires high emotional intelligence, authentic communication skills, and unwavering ethical judgment. The Chief of Staff should possess a unique blend of editorial authority and experience in business, technical, and operational leadership. We are looking for an individual who has successfully managed complex, non-journalism initiatives while simultaneously overseeing editorial project management.
Key Responsibilities
Minimum Qualifications
Education
Bachelor’s degree in journalism, business or a related field required; Master’s degree is preferred.
Compensation
The expected pay range for this position is $118,100 to $147,620 per ANNUM.
Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.
Working at Chicago Public Media
At Chicago Public Media, we care deeply about our employees as we know attracting, developing, and growing talent is key to our success and enhancing our impact.
Our culture is one where collaboration, diversity of ideas, and innovation are encouraged. We value colleagues who will enhance our culture by bringing new ideas, divergent experiences, and talents to our dynamic workplace.
At Chicago Public Media we believe dedication to a great workplace includes supporting our employees and their families. As a result, we provide a broad and generous benefits package for employees at hire and in the years to come.
Our benefits include a competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.
Chicago Public Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we actively seek and welcome people from all backgrounds, orientations, and life experiences to join our team.
The essential functions described above are not all-inclusive and are not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. Chicago Public Media may change the content or format of this job at any time in its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.