[Hiring] Food and Farming Storytelling Fund Program Manager @Sentient

Role Description

The Program Manager will lead the Food and Farming Storytelling Fund through the two-year pilot program designed to support independent journalists telling stories on factory farming. This role oversees direct reporting grants to journalists and works with the FFJN Manager to grow FFJN into a stronger, more sustainable media ecosystem around factory farming issues.

The Program Manager will supervise the FFJN Manager and report to senior leadership. This is a full-time, two-year W-2 employee position tied to the length of the funded pilot, with the possibility of extension if funding is renewed. This is a remote, work-from-home role open to U.S. based candidates compatible with the Eastern timezone.

Key Responsibilities

• Network Leadership & Journalist Support
  • Identify and recruit 5–10 trusted journalists and/or independent communicators to receive direct reporting grants, supporting them in dedicating at least 50% of their output to factory farming and food systems coverage.
  • Provide editorial mentorship and communications strategy advising to grantees.
  • Oversee trainings, workshops, fact-check/sourcing support and networking events, including beat dinners, for FFJN members.
• Program Growth & Distribution
  • Support the launch or expansion of independent media platforms among FFJN members, including Substacks, newsletters, podcasts and creator-led channels.
  • Oversee publishing, syndication and cross-platform distribution efforts to expand the reach of supported reporting.
  • Lead network growth and audience-development initiatives, including trainings on sustainable audience-building and creator-led journalism models.
• Measurement & Reporting
  • Track and report on program outputs and impact, including audience reach and engagement, sentiment analysis and narrative penetration (republication, follow-on coverage) across supported journalism and creator content.
  • Contribute to grant reporting and impact tracking for funders.
  • Manage the program budget, tools/subscriptions, and workflow/CRM systems used to track creators and grantees.
• Team Management
  • Supervise the FFJN Manager, delegating community-management, logistics and administrative tasks.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing journalist networks, fellowship programs or similar media/communications initiatives.
• Strong understanding of the freelance journalism, newsletter/Substack, podcast and creator-economy landscape.
• Experience with grant-making, grantee management or program administration.
• Excellent relationship-building skills with journalists, editors, creators and influencers.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple grantee relationships and partnerships simultaneously.
• Ability to work independently in a fully remote environment.

Highly Desired Qualifications

• Experience reporting on or covering factory farming, agriculture, climate, food systems or rural communities.
• Existing relationships with journalists, freelancers, newsletter writers, podcasters or influencers in the food, farming, climate or animal welfare space.
• Experience with influencer marketing, brand-creator partnerships or platform-native content strategy.
• Experience in nonprofit journalism or nonprofit program management.
• Familiarity with audience growth, distribution and impact-measurement tools.

The Recruitment Process

We want to provide transparency around the recruitment process so you can know what to expect when applying. We are looking to select a candidate for this role over the coming months and want to allow sufficient time for candidates to apply and for us to assess those who have applied.

• Step 1: Submit your application below/at this link and we will review your application.
• Step 2: Candidates who pass the initial screening round will be invited to a first-round interview with our hiring team.
• Step 3: Candidates who pass the first-round interview stage can expect a second interview stage with a time-limited work test for which we will compensate candidates for their time.
• Step 4: Candidates who have been successful in the second interview stage and time-limited work test will be invited to a third interview round with Sentient's leadership team.

We appreciate your interest in Sentient and even if you are unsuccessful in applying for this position, we invite you to apply to work with us again in the future. We do think it is important to share that we are a small non-profit news outlet, and due to the volume of applicants, it may not be possible for us to respond to everyone who has applied during the first step of the process.

Benefits

• This is a full-time (40 hours per week), two-year term position, aligned with the length of the funded pilot. The role is fully remote.
• A salary of $85,000 - 95,000 per year.
• Health, Dental & Vision Benefits.
• Professional Development Allowance.
• 401K plan.
• Competitive Paid Time Off.
• Annual Remote Office Supply Stipend.

Equity and Inclusion Statement

Sentient is committed to building an inclusive and equitable organization that reflects the diversity of the communities we cover. We believe that our work should amplify the voices of those most affected by industrial animal agriculture, particularly those from historically marginalized groups. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities and those from rural or economically disadvantaged communities. We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.