West Coast Bureau Chief, The Christian Science Monitor - California
Location: San Francisco, California
Job Category: Newspapers
Job ID: 11386
Employment Type: Full time
Salary:
Posted: 12.19.2025
Occupations:
Job Description:
SUMMARY
The West Coast Bureau Chief works with the National news editors and fellow correspondents to cover the nation’s largest state economy, including the innovation hub of Silicon Valley. This beat also includes writing about AI, immigration, politics, climate change, disaster management, water, and farming, among other issues. It will also involve some travel for regional reporting assignments as needed. The incumbent works as part of the U.S. news desk, shaping coverage of for our daily digital offerings as well as our print magazine.
The West Coast Bureau Chief approaches this regional beat with curiosity and open-mindedness and a willingness to set aside personal bias or prevailing consensus. The bureau chief reviews and selects pitches based on rigorous journalistic principles, and treats all points of view with diligent inquiry and respect. The incumbent prizes original reporting and builds stories that promote calm over fear and insight over assumption. A Monitor journalist depicts the subject of the story fairly and without embellishment, and eschews advocacy. The Monitor equips the reader to reach his or her own well-reasoned conclusions.
The bureau chief strives to uphold The Christian Science Monitor’s founding mission “to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent,” and its object “to injure no man but to bless all mankind.” That includes hewing to our five operational guidelines:
- Bring a healing, purifying thought to many homes. We counteract cynicism about news and humanity by upholding a higher standard of both.
- Get above the fray. Because we’re owned by a church, we’re free from corporate and political interests.
- Cover the day’s vital global news. We provide a trustworthy and concise compilation for our thoughtful, busy readers.
- Investigate ideals and endeavors, not just events. We keep abreast of the times by recognizing key currents of thought and their impact.
- Be clean, family-friendly, and non-sensational. We are “a newspaper for the home.”
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The West Coast Bureau Chief is an original and enterprising thinker. The incumbent knows that the people who call California home are diverse; has a keen eye for news and feature stories that capture through rich description and variety of voices how these states and communities govern and gather, educate and earn, and articulate their values and creativity; and knows that different types of stories require different narrative approaches. Writing grows out of reading. The West Coast Bureau Chief is a deep reader who draws from a diversity of sources to stoke curiosity, sharpen ideas, and spot stories not yet told, and is comfortable engaging people across the region’s diverse communities. The incumbent complies with the Monitor Ethics Policy as relevant. This includes not taking any public position on any political or public-issue campaign, including through social media posts, participation in protests, or donations to political candidates or issues.
- Conceptualize distinctly Monitor stories, in line with the five points above
- Demonstrate strong judgment about when and where to travel, how to make the most of a trip, and good budgeting skills
- Collaborate with other writers within and outside the pod as needed for more in-depth stories.
- Collaborate with pod editors throughout the editing and fact-checking process.
- Respond to breaking news stories, while also showing mastery of features, focus-length pieces, and cover stories.
- Produce quality work at a consistent pace: Deliver an average of 6-8 stories a month at the requested length and by the agreed-upon deadline.
- Respond to reader feedback in a timely and respectful fashion.
- Responsibly manage bureau finances, including filing expenses promptly and according to established procedures.
STAFF MANAGEMENT AND JOB CONTACTS
Reporting Relationships
Supervisor: National News Editor
Regular Contacts: Has regular contacts with other writers/newsroom staff and general public.
JOB REQUIREMENTS
Education/Experience
- A Bachelor’s degree plus a masters in journalism or equivalent in newspaper experience (3-5 years on average) is required.
The West Coast Bureau Chief embraces our newsroom’s three culture pillars:
- We’re scrappy. We seek creative solutions. We’re hungry and nimble. We experiment and streamline.
- We’re rigorous. We embrace others challenging our ideas and our writing. We strive for editorial excellence, and we help each other continually improve. We know that feedback is a gift.
- We have unwavering fidelity to our mission. We make our founding mission the basis for every decision and initiative.
Knowledge and skills
- Reads widely, deeply, and regularly for subject knowledge and breadth of perspectives
- Demonstrates strong reporting instincts and discernment, persistence, and professionalism in getting to the most valuable sources
- Shows a mastery of both deadline writing and in-depth pieces, including features
- Practices editorial rigor resulting in strong story angles and incisive, energetic writing
- Embraces a culture of feedback
- Understands, respects, and consistently applies Monitor style and language sensitivities.
- Engages collaboratively with editors and other writers
- Communicates effectively with editors and, when needed, senior management
- Has a keen understanding of how democratic institutions work and relate to each other within the constitutional structure
Technology Skills
Experience with EZ Publish, social media platforms.
Work Environment
This position is based in a home office/bureau in the San Francisco or Los Angeles area.
Engagement with Christian Science
Membership in The Mother Church is valued, but is not required. The West Coast Bureau Chief respects that, while the Monitor is not a sectarian publication, it is grounded in the healing mission of the Church that publishes it. The incumbent is receptive to developing a deeper understanding of how that mission informs and uplifts our journalism. For more background, see www.CSMonitor.com/About.
Pay Range: $100,541 - $130,702.40 annually
The pay ranges disclosed in our job postings are the compensation ranges the Church reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for a given position at the time of posting.
The offered salary will be determined by factors such as the applicant’s relevant education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities; and benchmarking, work location, and internal equity.
In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.
Job Requirements:
JOB REQUIREMENTS
Education/Experience
- A Bachelor’s degree plus a masters in journalism or equivalent in newspaper experience (3-5 years on average) is required.
The West Coast Bureau Chief embraces our newsroom’s three culture pillars:
- We’re scrappy. We seek creative solutions. We’re hungry and nimble. We experiment and streamline.
- We’re rigorous. We embrace others challenging our ideas and our writing. We strive for editorial excellence, and we help each other continually improve. We know that feedback is a gift.
- We have unwavering fidelity to our mission. We make our founding mission the basis for every decision and initiative.
Knowledge and skills
- Reads widely, deeply, and regularly for subject knowledge and breadth of perspectives
- Demonstrates strong reporting instincts and discernment, persistence, and professionalism in getting to the most valuable sources
- Shows a mastery of both deadline writing and in-depth pieces, including features
- Practices editorial rigor resulting in strong story angles and incisive, energetic writing
- Embraces a culture of feedback
- Understands, respects, and consistently applies Monitor style and language sensitivities.
- Engages collaboratively with editors and other writers
- Communicates effectively with editors and, when needed, senior management
- Has a keen understanding of how democratic institutions work and relate to each other within the constitutional structure
Technology Skills
Experience with EZ Publish, social media platforms.