Features Editor

Posted On: January 11, 2016

Journalism Job

Media Organization: Eater

Company Description

Eater is the source for people who care about dining and drinking in the nation's most important food cities. A favorite of industry pros and amateurs alike, Eater has an uncanny knack for finding out what's opening where, who's serving what, and how it's all going down.

Job Description

Eater, the national food and restaurant publication, seeks a Features Editor to oversee its award-winning longform department, including reported stories, cultural criticism, and essays.

Eater's features department uses the world of food and drink as a prism to explore broader questions of culture, science, art, history, economics, and humanity. This is a senior editorial position that requires a knowledge of the food-writing landscape and a sustaining interest in food culture, though ZERO specific food or food media experience is required. Most important in our ideal candidate is a drive to cultivate and execute beautiful, meaningful, ambitious stories that will continue Eater's mission of expanding the boundaries of great food writing.

Requirements:

— Significant experience working with high-quality, long-format stories (for web or for print), and an understanding of the unique editorial demands of long-lead, feature-length pieces published on the web

— A genuine passion for editing; a confident, thoughtful editorial style that inspires writers to do their best work; a consideration for both the writer's voice and the reader's experience; and an awareness of the differences in goal and approach when editing reported stories, essays, or opinion pieces

— An uncanny ability to drill directly to the heart of any story, with a sharp structural eye for teasing out universals, strengthening arguments, and sharpening theses

— Knowledge of and excitement for the ways a digital-exclusive platform can be used to tell stories in interesting or unconventional ways

— A deep rolodex of terrific writers, an ace ability to spot and cultivate new talent, good freelancer bedside manner, and an abiding belief that good writer relationships are the bedrock of good stories

— Experience with the art/visual aspects of a story, an eye for layout, good photographer and illustrator contacts

— Ability to juggle multiple projects in various stages, maintain a budget, and manage freelance writers and editorial support

Responsibilities:

— Manage a full slate of feature stories from start to finish, including soliciting pitches and making assignments, story shaping and line/query editing, art management, production, liaising with copy editors and fact-checkers, and brainstorming social/engagement strategy

— Work closely with the Executive Editor and Associate Features Editor to set the strategy for the Features department, establishing goals and mapping out ways to achieve them

— Share responsibility for Eater's special content and tentpole packages with other senior editorial staff

In your cover letter, in addition to explaining who you are and why you're great, please include links to three feature-length or large-format multimedia stories you've assigned, edited, or written, with explanations of your involvement and why you're proud of each piece, as well as links to three feature-length stories published in the last two years, from any publication, that you think are FANTASTIC, with explanations of why you think they work.

To Apply

Apply here: https://boards.greenhouse.io/voxmedia/jobs/144954?gh_jid=144954#.VpPr-5MrLOQ