Executive Director of Photography

Join the hundreds of talented and innovative team members who are making an impact every day at California Times, incorporating Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune, two of the most iconic media brands in the nation. Whether you love to tell compelling stories or want to drive our award-winning powerhouse in new directions, the Los Angeles Times team is the place to be.

The Los Angeles Times is looking for a creative, ambitious and collaborative journalist to lead our award-winning Photo Department.

The executive director’s primary responsibility will be to lead the team through an exciting and transformative time at the organization, as we become a modern media company anchored in the West Coast perspective. This is a position for someone with a clear and bold vision for the future of news photography — through changing our style of photography, experimenting with innovative story formats and elevating our journalism.

In this role, you would be overseeing one of the best photography and photo-editing staffs in the nation, and you will be tasked with overhauling its existing workflows and structure, as well as creating a culture that is digitally focused, where people can learn, experiment and excel.

You should be an imaginative and compassionate leader, with experience managing a similar change at a news organization. The ideal candidate has a strong background in news photography, as well as an eye for creative online storytelling.

The executive director should be prepared to build successful and collaborative relationships across the organization, particularly with the Design Department. This role is a chance to be a part of changing the look and feel of the L.A. Times. We are undergoing a process of building a much more integrated and cohesive newsroom culture, and this position is a key part of that. 

In this position you will: 

• Manage staff, providing continual feedback to employees on their performance, to develop talent and push the department to do better
• Coach and develop staff to adapt to the department’s changes
• Build better communication and relationships within the team and launch structural changes as needed
• Build systems in order to meet deadlines and better support the newsroom’s photography needs
• Overhaul both the team’s workflows and output to more closely align with The Times’ editorial vision
• Work with newsroom leadership to set and manage goals for the team
• Collaborate with newsroom stakeholders to come up with compelling, creative, and innovative storytelling
• Cultivate a positive work environment for staff
• Lead talent development efforts and create a clear career development strategy for current staffers while helping identify a pipeline of future industry talent and leaders

You should have: 

• A minimum of 10 years of experience, with at least five in management or comparable roles
• Experience inspiring a culture of innovation, execution, collaboration and accountability
• A track record of fostering teamwork 
• An ethical, transparent and inclusive approach in the workplace
• A sensitivity to the ongoing transformations in how news is created, produced and consumed

This is a management role and reports directly to the managing editor overseeing news operations. Times staff is currently working remotely, but when we return to the newsroom the position will be based in El Segundo, Calif. Occasional night and weekend work is expected.

The L.A. Times is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes expressions of interest from people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Explore our company history, achievement, values, mission and more on our career site.

The pay scale for this position is $155,595 to $190,000. This is the pay scale range the Company reasonably expects to pay for this position at the time of this posting. Compensation will be determined based on skills, qualifications and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position. Please visit our career site to view the benefits available to our employees.

The Company is a mandatory vaccination employer for COVID-19 and its variants. The Company requires that its employees be fully vaccinated as of their start date. If you require a medical or religious accommodation we will engage in the interactive process with you. Proof of vaccination will be required prior to start. If we make you an offer and you are not yet vaccinated, we will accommodate a delay in start date.

Qualified candidates should upload a cover letter and resume to the attention of Managing Editor Sara Yasin. In addition to your cover letter, please include your thoughts on the L.A. Times and opportunities to grow a bigger audience – and how you see the Photo Department fitting into that. We’d also love to see how you see the future of news photography. Please note, the option to include additional documents comes on the third screen and is labeled “Upload.”

Thank you for your interest in joining our team at the Los Angeles Times! We look forward to reviewing your application.