Location: Charlotte, North Carolina

Position type: Full-time / Exempt

Reports to: Provost, Queens University of Charlotte

Salary range: $75,000-$80,000 with full benefits

ABOUT THE CHARLOTTE JOURNALISM COLLABORATIVE

The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative (CJC) is a partnership of local news organizations, educational institutions and community organizations working together to strengthen Charlotte’s news and information ecosystem. 

The CJC was launched in 2019 by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It was founded on a simple but powerful idea; Charlotte’s newsrooms and civic institutions can accomplish more together than any one organization can accomplish alone. 

Today, the Collaborative brings together reporters and leaders from local newsrooms and community institutions to produce rigorous, solutions-focused journalism, respond to important information needs, and create stronger connections between journalists and the people they serve. Its partners include the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, The Charlotte Observer, La Noticia, QCity Metro, Qnotes, the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, WCNC Charlotte, and WFAE. 

The CJC’s work is grounded in three core values: 

• Courage: Using the Collaborative’s collective reach and expertise to examine difficult issues, explore credible responses to community challenges, and experiment with new ways of producing and distributing local news. 
• Community: Staying focused on the information needs and lived experiences of Charlotte residents while supporting local news organizations in producing work that reflects, reaches, and serves the region’s diverse communities. 
• Direct service: Creating meaningful opportunities for residents to engage with journalists and gain access to practical, trustworthy information that helps them navigate complex issues. 

Over the past several years, the CJC has grown from a collaborative reporting initiative into an important piece of Charlotte’s civic infrastructure. Its partners have worked together on major issues affecting the region, including affordable housing, elections, public health, and the effects of changing public policies and funding priorities. The Collaborative also convenes journalists, nonprofit leaders, funders, and residents through its annual Local News Impact Summit and other public programs. Through Charlotte Documenters, the CJC is building a network of trained and paid residents who attend and document local government meetings, expanding civic participation while making the work of public bodies more accessible. 

The Collaborative is supported by a combination of local and national grants, philanthropic investments, sponsorships, and community partnerships. Its next Director will build on a strong foundation while helping the CJC define its next chapter as a sustainable, community-centered anchor for local news and civic information. 

A New Chapter at Queens University of Charlotte

The CJC is entering an important new phase as part of the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, while at the same time the university is starting a future as a merged institution with Elon University. 

The Knight School has been a partner in the Collaborative since its founding. As the CJC’s institutional home, the university now provides the leadership, administrative support, and academic environment needed to anchor and expand the Collaborative’s work. This positioning creates opportunities for the CJC to strengthen Charlotte’s local news ecosystem while helping prepare the next generation of journalists and civic communicators. 

The Director will help make the most of this institutional partnership. They will operate at the intersection of journalism, community engagement, education, and civic life – connecting the resources of a university with the experience of working journalists and a mission and reach that extends across the community. The Director will be responsible for preserving the CJC’s identity as a trusted, independent convener of newsrooms and community institutions, while developing productive relationships with faculty, students, and leaders throughout the university. 

The Opportunity

The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative seeks a strategic, entrepreneurial, and community-centered leader to serve as its next Director. The Director will guide the CJC’s overall vision, partnerships, programs, and long-term sustainability. They will serve as a trusted convener among organizations that are accustomed to competing but recognize the value of working together on the issues that matter most to Charlotte residents. 

The Director will oversee collaborative journalism projects and community engagement initiatives, cultivate philanthropic and institutional support, manage the CJC’s operations, and represent the Collaborative locally and nationally. They will work closely with news partners, community organizations, funders, university faculty and administrators, students, contractors, and other contributors. 

This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership position. The Director must be able to move comfortably between long-term planning and day-to-day execution: facilitating a meeting of newsroom leaders, developing a funding proposal, shaping a collaborative reporting project, mentoring a student, overseeing an event, managing a budget, and listening directly to residents about their information needs. 

The next Director will inherit a respected collaborative with strong partnerships, recognized programs, and meaningful community relationships. They will also have the opportunity to help answer ambitious questions about its future: How can the CJC provide even greater value to residents and partner organizations? How can it fill persistent information gaps? How should its relationship with the Knight School support innovation, education and community service? And what mix of philanthropic, institutional, sponsorship, and earned support will sustain the work for years to come? 

WHAT THE DIRECTOR WILL LEAD

Strategy and organizational leadership

• Develop and execute a clear strategic vision for the CJC’s next phase, in partnership with the Collaborative’s participating organizations. 
• Translate the CJC’s mission and values into focused programs, measurable goals, and effective day-to-day operations. 
• Assess Charlotte’s news and information ecosystem and identify opportunities where collaboration can have the greatest public benefit. 
• Build structures that allow partners, residents, and other stakeholders to participate meaningfully in setting priorities and evaluating the Collaborative’s work. 
• Establish appropriate measures of reach, participation, learning, and community impact, and communicate results to partners, funders, and the public. 

Collaborative journalism and civic information

• Convene editors, reporters, and other partner representatives to develop and carry out ambitious collaborative reporting projects. 
• Help partners identify shared coverage priorities while respecting each newsroom’s editorial independence, audiences, and organizational needs. 
• Advance the CJC’s commitment to rigorous solutions journalism and reporting that examines responses to important community challenges. 
• Support the development of journalism and information services that reach residents through the platforms, formats, languages, and trusted messengers they use, including new approaches to reporting, distribution, technology, and audience engagement. 
• Uphold strong standards of journalistic ethics, accuracy, transparency, and independence throughout the CJC’s work. 

Community engagement and partnerships

• Build authentic, sustained relationships with residents and community organizations, particularly in communities that have historically been overlooked or inadequately served by local media. 
• Create effective processes for listening to residents and incorporating their experiences, questions, and information needs into CJC priorities. 
• Serve as a connector among news organizations, libraries, universities, nonprofits, neighborhood leaders, artists, funders, and other civic institutions. 
• Lead public programs such as the Local News Impact Summit, community conversations, workshops, and other events that bring journalists and residents together. 
• Oversee and grow Charlotte Documenters as a meaningful civic-information and community-participation program. 
• Represent the CJC as a credible, accessible, and collaborative public voice throughout the Charlotte region. 

Queens and campus engagement

• Develop a strong working relationship with the leadership, faculty, staff and students of the Knight School of Communication. 
• Connect CJC projects with appropriate opportunities for student learning, reporting, research, internships, and paid community work. 
• Teach students in the fundamentals of journalism, including teaching the Student Media Practicum and other courses as needed, overseeing the Queens University News Service to expand useful local reporting while ensuring students receive appropriate instruction, editing and professional support. 
• Help position the Knight School and the CJC as leaders in university-community journalism partnerships. 
• Navigate the university environment effectively while maintaining the CJC’s community-centered purpose and the editorial independence of its journalism partners. 

Fundraising and sustainability

• Develop and execute a diversified strategy for the CJC’s long-term financial sustainability. 
• Cultivate relationships with local and national foundations, individual donors, corporate sponsors, and other prospective supporters. 
• Lead the development of grant proposals, sponsorship opportunities, funding reports, and other donor communications. 
• Work with the University’s advancement, finance, grants, and administrative teams to support and manage funding for the program. 
• Clearly articulate the public value and impact of collaborative local journalism while monitoring developments in journalism philanthropy, connecting the CJC to regional and national opportunities. 

Operations and stewardship

• Develop and manage the CJC’s annual budget, contracts, grants, timelines, and program commitments. 
• Maintain clear and constructive communication among partners, funders, the University, and community stakeholders
• Build systems and documentation that make the Collaborative’s work effective, transparent, and resilient. 
• Ensure compliance with applicable University policies and grant, legal, financial, and reporting requirements. 
• Manage competing priorities with sound judgement, adaptability, and a commitment to follow-through. 

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

The strongest candidates will bring a combination of leadership, relationship-building, journalism, community engagement, fundraising, and operational experience. We recognize that qualified candidates may have developed these abilities through many different professional and lived experiences. 

The successful candidate will likely demonstrate: 

• A deep commitment to strong local journalism, civic information, community voice, and an informed and engaged public. 
• Significant leadership experience in journalism, nonprofit organizations, civic engagement, higher education, philanthropy, community development or a related field. 
• A record of building and sustaining partnerships among organizations with differing priorities, cultures, and constituencies. 
• The ability to convene groups, facilitate productive discussions, navigate disagreement, and turn shared ideas into coordinated action. 
• Strong knowledge of journalism’s public-service role and the challenges and opportunities facing local news organizations. 
• Experience developing organizational or program strategy and translating that strategy into goals, budgets, work plans, and measurable results. 
• Demonstrated fundraising ability, including experience cultivating funders or sponsors and developing successful proposals. 
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to represent the CJC to many different audiences. 
• Sound editorial and ethical judgement.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, including the ability to lead multiple initiatives simultaneously. 
• An entrepreneurial mindset and comfort working in an evolving organization where the Director must both set direction and execute the work. 
• An understanding of Charlotte and its communities – or the curiosity, humility and commitment necessary to develop that understanding quickly. 

Experience working with students, faculty, universities, collaborative journalism projects, solutions journalism, audience engagement, or civic information organizations would be valuable but is not required. 

A specific degree or traditional journalism career path is not required. Queens and the CJC welcome candidates whose transferable experience equips them to lead this work effectively. 

POSITION DETAILS

This is a full-time, exempt position based at the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte. Because the Director’s work depends on close relationships with local partners and residents, the position requires a regular presence in Charlotte and participation in community meetings and events. Some evening and occasional weekend work should be expected. Limited regional and national travel may also be required. 

The anticipated salary range is $75,000-$80,000. Queens offers comprehensive benefits to eligible employees, including: medical, dental and vision insurance, domestic partner benefits, a 403b retirement plan, with two options (pre-tax or post-tax (Roth) contributions) with a generous match, vacation and generous paid holidays, tuition remission and tuition exchange, Queens-paid life insurance, supplemental life insurance, dependent life insurance, accidental leave when eligible, reduced cost meals at Morrison Dining Hall, employee assistance program (EAP), free access to the Levine Center, wellness programs. In addition, employees may choose benefits such as pet insurance, critical care insurance and legal assistance. 

The Director will report to the Provost and will work in close partnership with the CJC Partners, and Knight School of Communication faculty and staff.

TO APPLY

Candidates should submit the following documenters here: 

• A resume or curriculum vitae.
• A cover letter describing your interest in the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative and how your experience prepares you to lead its next chapter. 
• Optional: Two or three work samples demonstrating relevant leadership, journalism, community engagement, strategic planning, fundraising or communications experience. 

Applications received by August 18, 2026 will receive priority consideration. The position will remain open until filled. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Queens University of Charlotte aims to be a leading comprehensive university, distinguished by its commitment to transforming the lives of its students and enhancing the intellectual and cultural fabric of its community. Queens is a campus where diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values. The mission of Queens is to provide transformative educational experiences that nurture intellectual curiosity, promote global understanding, encourage ethical living, and prepare individuals for purposeful and fulfilling lives. To this end, the University recruits talented faculty, staff, and students from across the United States and around the world. Queens encourages applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, and members of other protected classes and historically minoritized communities. The University also invites applications from individuals who are prepared to provide a rich and varied educational experience to our increasingly diverse student body and to collaborate with colleagues to make Queens an equitable and inclusive place to live, learn, and work. 

Queens works to provide an accessible living, learning, and working environment for current and prospective faculty, staff, and students and visitors to our campus. If there are accommodations, we can provide to make your application process more accessible, please contact the Director of Human Resources (hr@queens.edu, 704-337-2297). The position duties and responsibilities listed above should be able to be completed with or without reasonable accommodations. HR works in partnership with employees to manage the workplace accommodations process.