News Editor, TechCabal

News Editor, TechCabal

Curiosity, imagination, and ambition.

Those are three of the most important things we’re looking for in TechCabal’s News editor. We are looking to hire a curious, passionate and hard-working editor to join our talented newsroom. The ideal candidate is willing to immerse themselves in Africa’s technology and business ecosystem. This position requires someone with strong reporting, writing, and editing skills. We want someone who can work quickly and isn’t afraid to enforce strict deadlines and keep up with a demanding news cycle.

You will be responsible for editing daily news articles and features, generating story pitches and ideas, and working with our team of journalists to fine-tune TechCabal’s voice and editorial standards.

TechCabal has been read by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, interviewed CEOs of leading banks and telecom companies, and reported on the most important happenings within Africa’s tech ecosystem. We have been one of the leading publications covering technology and the startup ecosystem on the continent over the last five years providing insight and analysis, seminal events and hosting conversations with major players. We have played an essential role in understanding tech in Africa.

We are in the middle of a pivotal transformation, aiming to go beyond providing insight and news to tech insiders to a broader mission that will see us become the most important publication covering the business and impact of technology in Africa, speaking not only to insiders but to everyone affected by and curious about technology on the continent.

Two statements guide us in this transformation:

1. There is technology in everything Most current tech coverage on the continent narrowly focuses on startups and a few big and obvious larger tech companies. We counter that approach by noting that technology will be the biggest driver of growth across all industries on the continent over the next few decades. Therefore we must look beyond the funding announcements and exciting but economically inconsequential startups to document the real business and impact of technology on the continent.

2. Everyone is invited The impact of technology isn’t limited to founders, VCs and tech bros on Twitter. It encompasses everyone from hopeful youth looking to tech to create opportunities in high-unemployment markets, to business people looking to bring their organizations into the 21st century, government officials looking for growth in their economies and everyone else curious about where technology is taking us all.

We want someone who possesses a good understanding of the issues and a passion for the mission of telling stories that matter about the business and impact of technology in Africa. They will possess a good understanding of journalistic and media practices and ethics. They will also possess people skills and the three critical attributes mentioned at the top of this page.

• Compensation for the role is competitive for editorial roles at major publications.

TechCabal’s portfolio of platforms includes a well-regarded daily newsletter, one of the most popular and respected technology websites on the continent, video and podcast creation capabilities and a well-respected live series of interviews. Additionally, we’ve ambitious signature projects like Tech Women Lagos, our TC Townhall physical events and Bullish On Africa, our first digital conference. Each of these properties is being reimagined and reshaped to serve our new mission and more ambitious and aggressive positioning for the publication.

Big Cabal Media (BCM) is on a mission to create the next generation of media brands, providing content for digital African audiences, both on and off the continent. Our brands, TechCabal and Zikoko have distinguished themselves for their ability to deliver smart and sophisticated content in relatable and easily digestible ways. Our culture deck speaks in detail about what matters to us as a company.

Responsibilities

• Manage and edit daily news stories, news features, and periodical items for the website.
• Assign stories to reporters and prepare work schedules to facilitate timely publication.
• Edit and manage, from conception to execution, TechCabal’s two-weekend newsletters
• Edit and manage, from conception to execution, TechCabal’s weekly tech-career-guide newsletter
• Work with the rest of the editorial team to track reporters’ progress twice a week and manage the newsroom’s timelines
• Conceive story ideas and write 3 articles per quarter.
• Develop and maintain relationships with decision-makers in Africa’s technology and business ecosystem
• Conceive and establish new beats of coverage for the newsroom

**You would be a great fit for this role if: **

• You are passionate yet clear-eyed about the potential of technology to transform and impact life and business across Africa.
• You have 2-4 years of experience as an editor in a busy newsroom and a good understanding of tech and/or business in Africa
• You have recent or extensive experience in finance and business journalism.
• You’re talented, self-motivated and able to seize the initiative.
• You’re willing to pursue stories with doggedness and deliver high-quality work consistently
• You have strong analytical and excellent communication skills
• You are blessed with a sense of humour
• You are willing to learn and ambitious to win prestigious journalism awards.

Working at Big Cabal Media You'll be joining a group of focused, hard-working, creative people who are passionate about doing work that's challenging and telling stories that matter.

We're a digital company that’s currently working almost entirely remotely (there are occasional in-person strategy sessions and meet-ups, but we work well with colleagues who are not in Lagos). We use Slack, Google Docs, Notion and Airtable to keep on top of things.

We typically try to arrange work between 9 am and 6 pm WAT, but we don’t have a stick up our butt about hours. We care about quality and results. Our people get things done fast and well, and we ask them to take care of themselves. Burnout isn’t fun or useful.

While collaborative work will be the norm and is the requirement, people who want to work at BCM must also demonstrate initiative and the ability to work independently.

Applicants for this role may come from a range of backgrounds, including consulting, the business world, literary background and beyond. We’re an equal opportunity employer.

*If the above doesn't describe you perfectly, please get in touch anyway and tell us why you want to work with us. *