Senior Editor, The Daily

Position description

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for. 

Job Description

The Daily is hiring a Senior Editor. As one of the top news podcasts, every weekday, The Daily typically tells a single story with nuance, context and depth. The topics vary widely, from breaking down important news moments, to laying out the findings of investigative reporting, to personal stories of people whose lives intersect with the news. The show is insistently flexible about its format, and embraces the challenge of creative experimentation. We are searching for a Senior Editor who can both make episodes of the show at a high level, and have an influential voice in a collaborative environment that makes consistently impactful work, thrives on curiosity, and is tenacious about its shared desire to supersede its own benchmarks of excellence and creativity. 

Successful editing on The Daily requires a unique combination of skills. It requires a strong appetite for the news, and an intuitive sense of the news cycle. We make a show with documentary and narrative audio techniques and refinements, but do so, frequently, with the speed and deadlines of a news environment. Editing on the show requires strong long form audio editing abilities. Editors need to be able structure 20-30 minute arcs, editing for turns, stakes, framing, emotion and ideas. They need to have sharp sensibilities about scoring, pacing, details – from the errant breath to a late/early music entrance. Successful editing at The Daily involves sharpening episodes in their conceit, holding an evolving vision, collaborating with reporters, hosts and producers, and being responsible for the very hands-on final phases of bolting together and polishing an episode the day before publication. 

We expect Senior Editors to perform all of these functions at a high level – with the leadership, steadiness, independence and excellence. 

Responsibilities:

• Working with team leadership and hosts to set the editorial agenda for the day, as well as helping to shape lines of coverage 

• Working closely with producers, reporters and editors in developing story ideas for audio

• Contributing to story selection

• Helping to guide/manage the timeline and production of episodes

• Pitch episode ideas regularly

• Coaching New York Times reporters and editors without audio experience – as guests, and to gather sound recordings

• Structuring, gaming out and scripting studio conversations before recording

• Monitoring and guiding studio recordings with guests

• Editing episodes, both tight turnarounds for daily news and longer-term productions   

• Working with leadership to develop producers and help them grow, including, potentially, managing a small group of direct reports 

• May have input into staffing decisions and will be required to assess performance and provide feedback to staff

• Following the news moment and exercising good news judgment

• Well-developed and adaptive cultural competence and emotional intelligence

• Believes in The New York Times’ commitment to independent journalism, and our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world 

• Able to uphold the editorial standards of The Times

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• 8+ years experience in audio production

• 5+ years of editing experience

• Experience in building and editing longform narratives in audio

• Experience in a deadline-driven environment

• Prior experience quickly identifying problems with story structure & tape

• Proven understanding of music scoring and sound design techniques and strategies

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Fluency working in Pro Tools

The annual base pay salary for this role is between $145,000.00 and $160,000.00.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on tendersglobal.net