Deputy Editor, Arts & Culture Hub

OVERVIEW

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NPR's Arts & Culture Hub offers news, discovery and analysis of arts and culture to curious audiences on multiple platforms, including radio, podcasts, social media platforms, and video. We are seeking a creative and dynamic journalist to serve as Deputy Editor, overseeing desk coverage of screens (including streaming and online video culture) and the trends that shape our lives.

This full-time leadership position will direct projects with teams across the hub, ensuring original reporting, insight, context, and signature curation initiatives that set NPR apart as a relevant journalism and cultural institution. The editor is an ideas generator, responsible for managing critics, correspondents and editors on the desk as they seek to optimize their journalism for broadcast, digital and podcast audiences. The editor will have a dotted line and an important consultative role with culture podcasts in the hub, including Wild Card with Rachel Martin, Pop Culture Happy Hour, and It's Been a Minute. The position reports to the Chief Culture Editor.

This role calls for someone who is nimble, collaborative, and able to identify opportunities in coverage and quickly work to fill them. The editor must have experience managing editorial teams and a track record for strategizing and leading film and television coverage. They should bring energy and sophisticated ideas to the table and think expansively and creatively about the types of content that will attract new audiences to NPR.

This is an NPR editorial role covered under the terms of the NPR Ethics Handbook. All editorial staff are bound by this guidance. Editorial staff are defined as staff members who play a role in shaping the journalistic or creative direction of NPR's content, including events.    

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as deputy to the Chief Culture Editor with shared responsibility for the team's daily news remit, which includes breaking and planned news across cultural content.
• Lead the editorial vision and execution for film and television coverage, including daily news coverage as well as analysis and criticism on NPR's flagship magazines, NPR.org, podcasts and newsletters. 
• Work closely with the Chief Culture Editor and podcast showrunners to align with the network's strategic goals and maintain editorial excellence, fairness and accuracy for products developed, produced, and maintained by the Arts and Culture Hub.
• Work with editors to shape and plan multi-platform coverage of film and television on screens and the big cultural moments surrounding it—including festivals and awards season.
• Bring enthusiasm and smarts to coverage, drawing up original and compelling ways to cover the industry and cultural shifts around it.
• Generate story ideas and review pitches, help develop creative storytelling approaches and sources, and determine the best platform for coverage, including making suggestions for interviews and maintaining contacts.
• Support the Chief Culture Editor with critical network news meetings, projects, desk communications, regular weekend duties and filling in, when necessary.
• Manage several staff members, providing regular and constructive feedback and career development for performance evaluations.
• Prioritize finding and cultivating new voices and coverage areas that keep NPR’s culture coverage reflecting curious audiences across America. 

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 7+ years of experience editing arts, entertainment and culture coverage.
• 3+ years of supervisory and managerial experience leading complex teams and news coverage.
• Experience editing for radio and/or podcasting.
• A strong record of multi-platform thinking and execution in daily news as well as feature and enterprise coverage.
• Experience in editorial decision-making, including assigning reporters/correspondents.
• Ability to handle multiple and complex projects simultaneously under stringent timeframes and changing priorities/conditions.
• Ability to work quickly and efficiently under deadline pressure.
• Ability and willingness to work varied shifts.
• Demonstrated team collaboration and leadership skills.
• Experience in digital media, including editing copy, visuals and coordination with news apps as well as familiarity with content management systems and collaboration tools.
• Expertise in writing, with excellence in news, headline and broadcast writing as well as copy editing. 
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and effectively in challenging situations

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Familiarity with NPR member stations and the public media system.
• Flexibility, creativity and eagerness to innovate and embrace change.
• Long-standing relationships and contacts in the entertainment industry are a plus. 

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in work experience preferred.

WORK LOCATION

• Hybrid Permitted: This is a hybrid permitted role. Some aspects of this role include duties that are better performed at an NPR facility. The employee will be required to be onsite at either the Culver City or New York City office at least 10 days a year. The employee must also reside in an NPR-supported location based on the number of onsite days they choose.

JOB TYPE

• This is a full-time, exempt position.

COMPENSATION

Salary Range: The U.S. based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $160,000-$170,000 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

Benefits: NPR offers access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees. 

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.

NPR is an Equal Opportunity Employer. NPR is committed to being an inclusive workplace that welcomes diverse and unique perspectives, all working toward the same goal – to create a more informed public. Qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, lactation, and reproductive health decisions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender status, gender non-conforming status, intersex status, sexual stereotypes, nationality, citizenship status, personal appearance, marital status, family status, family responsibilities, military status, veteran status, mental and physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, genetic characteristics of yourself or a family member, political views and affiliation, unemployment status, protective order status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other basis prohibited under applicable law.

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