The Kansas City Star is looking for a high-energy, self-starting Chiefs Insider to be a personality and face of our Kansas City Chiefs coverage.

This is not your traditional sports beat writer position. This journalist will be expected to bring their own energy and expertise to covering, in new ways, one of the NFL’s preeminent franchises. Chiefs football inspires huge readership from both passionate football fans and thousands of casual observers drawn by the good times that surround a championship team.

Journalism driven by expert analysis:

The ideal candidate will do this through engaging, expert journalism that produces and provides regular news breaks and insider stories of regional and national importance in an extremely competitive setting. 

Examples of this work include: 

• Finding topics that our Chiefs readers care about and digging in, producing multiple quick stories while also pursuing more enterprising angles. 
• Identifying story and multimedia ideas from relationships forged in the locker room and with sources on and around the team. 
• Collaborating within our Chiefs coverage team to deliver a regular stream of high-level journalism to a smart fan base with a voracious appetite for big stories and small scoops.
• This next-generation reporter will be comfortable utilizing multiple story formats, including video and audio features, service journalism-style explainers and fact checks.

This coverage must go far beyond simple game outcomes and news conferences by prodding and provoking with one-of-a-kind insight and analysis.

The ideal candidate will have an understanding of how a professional sports organization operates and the inner workings of athlete-agent and front-office dynamics. 

This position will demand a keen eye for sharp news angles, strong source-building skills and the ability, always, to produce revelatory, memorable and high-impact journalism.

A focus on engaging Chiefs Kingdom:

This journalist will be committed to building trust-centered relationships with Chiefs fans. Examples of how they might do this include: 

• Using callouts and other engagement tools to hear directly from readers about what they’d like to see covered next. 
• Engaging with members of The Star’s subscriber base in virtual and live events.
• Writing a regular newsletter to readers as a means of increasing connectivity with existing and new audiences, promoting latest examples of special work produced by The Star’s Chiefs coverage team. 
• Appearing in, and shooting, some video while also contributing to The Star’s SportsBeat KC podcast.

We are looking for candidates with strong interpersonal skills who can collaborate with editors, reporters, other staff members and, of course, the fan base. The ideal candidate will work closely with editors and our audience development team to make sure we are reaching readers who have shown a thirst for this coverage.

All McClatchy Media journalists are expected to take advantage of opportunities to ethically harness and leverage artificial intelligence and other automation to enhance and elevate their work and to find efficiencies that free them to focus on source-building and high quality, deeply reported journalism.

To apply, include a persuasive cover letter, your resume and four to six examples of your best work.

What you'll bring:

• Strong writing skills and excellent news judgment.
• Deep knowledge of sports in general and football, NFL football, in particular.
• An unwavering commitment to accurate, ethical journalism.
• An understanding of public records laws and how to use them.
• Willingness to collaborate frequently as part of a team. 
• Initiative to develop a strong network of sources to find and pursue stories that will reach a broad audience.
• An interest in telling stories using a variety of media and engagement tools, and an enthusiasm for learning new skills and technologies.
• Fluency in the science of readership and engagement, including an understanding of metrics/analytics and an understanding of SEO and other audience optimization tactics.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including empathy and the ability to take and give constructive criticism.
• Ability to work comfortably and nimbly in a job that will be fast-paced and data-driven, shaped constantly by feedback and experimentation and always evolving.

What we'll bring:

As a journalist at McClatchy, you will join a supportive, flexible, collaborative team. McClatchy strives to be an employer of choice, and our benefits package is made with this goal in mind. With a focus on health, well-being, wealth and daily life, our package options include healthcare coverage for employees and their families, financial protection from expected and unexpected expenses, multiple no-cost wellness resources and even coverage for four-legged friends.  

Our overall benefits package also includes a 401(k) with employer match, competitive paid time off and corporate holidays, and a variety of mental health benefits. With an excellent support team and with focus on your well-being as a top corporate strategy, McClatchy provides benefits to support you and your family in achieving your health and wellness goals. For more information on McClatchy's benefit plan, please visit McClatchyLivewell.com.

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Salary/Compensation: $85,000 - $120,000 per year