Supervising Editor, The Journal (Gimlet)

Job Description

An editor at Gimlet is the person who helps each story find its shape, who guides a production team from the initial idea to the final, polished audio piece. The successful candidate will be an experienced storyteller capable of leading teams to craft stories that are engaging, surprising, and emotionally satisfying. They think deeply about narrative structure. They believe in the power of audio to open people up or change their minds, and they know that kind of project takes tremendous effort and constant revision. They are critical of the work but encouraging and supportive of their teams. They don’t just point out the problems, they stick around to coach the team in fixing them.

We’re looking for an editor who is passionate about news, appreciates the work that The Journal does every day and has an ambitious vision for what this show can accomplish. This person should have a background in journalism, be experienced in narrative storytelling, enthusiastic about working on tight deadlines, and excited about providing consistent and holistic feedback. We’re also looking for someone confident and skilled at project managing and editing short-run narrative series.

This is a leadership position, and we’re looking for someone who finds enormous satisfaction in developing and supporting exceptional colleagues. While this role is set for normal work hours, it also requires flexibility and openness to weekend and after-hours work. This is a full-time role based anywhere in North America, working East coast hours. The application deadline is Monday, August 1st at 5p ET.

What You’ll Do:

• Work with producers and hosts to frame and prep for interviews
  
• Listen to drafts and identify what is working in each story and what needs to be added, restructured or reimagined, keeping an eye on
  
• journalistic standards as well as narrative momentum
  
• Guide episode teams to craft stories that are engaging, surprising and emotionally satisfying
  
• Write collaboratively with producers, reporters and hosts to get scripts from draft to final language
  
• Manage the daily deadlines needed to get each episode over the finish line
  
• Coordinate with Wall Street Journal staff to make sure all drafts meet the editorial standards of the paper
  
• Work closely with producers to develop pitches for future episodes – both long term ideas and shorter turn stories
  
• Contribute regularly to morning pitch meetings, both by pitching your own ideas and by helping strengthen others’ ideas
  
• Identify stories, both within the WSJ newsroom and outside of it, that could warrant a deeper dive, or have the potential for a short run series
  
• Partner with WSJ reporters and editors to share their stories and reporting
  
• Ensure that all journalistic and legal standards are followed
• Manage 2-4 producers and senior producers by providing regular feedback and support

Where You’ll Be:

We are a distributed workforce enabling our band members to find a work mode that is best for them!
Where in the world? For this role, it can be within the Americas region in which we have a work location.
Prefer an office to work from home instead? Not a problem! We have plenty of options for your working preferences.=
Working hours? We operate within the Eastern Standard time zone for collaboration.

Skills Needed

• At least seven years of audio journalism experience, including in longform narrative
  
• At least four years of experience in an editing role
  
• Comfort and proficiency in structuring and editing narrative pieces
  
• Experience managing, mentoring, and helping others develop in their careers
  
• Excellent writing skills
  
• An ability to jump between episodes and contribute meaningful guidance, no matter the context
  
• Ability to tell business and economics stories in creative ways
  
• Knowledge of current events, U.S. and world politics and economics, as well as a nose for news
  
• Exceptional communication skills, including written and as a collaborator