Senior Supervising Editor, Planet Money - Temporary
NPR
Washington, DCFull Time Job
OVERVIEW
NPR's flagship economics podcast needs someone deeply steeped in narrative audio with an analytical mind, creative instincts, caring heart who can also land a joke to join our editorial team in this part-time role for up to six months. Economic expertise will also help, familiarity and interest in the subject area at a minimum is required.
We have broad creative freedom to tell stories however we can. Sometimes it's a character narrative, other times it's field reporting or an expert interview, or trying things for ourselves, like buying 1,000 barrels of oil or a load of Christmas trees and seeing what happens when we need to re-sell them. Humor, antics, empathy, pathos, metaphor, and even quizzes or songs – we deploy whatever tools we need to best explain, engage and entertain.
We're looking for a temporary, ½ time supervising senior editor (20 hours a week) who is excited by that mix. Someone with news instincts, narrative audio chops, and leadership experience. Someone who we can spot stories, and sharpen scripts. Also: offer constructive, rigorous, fair feedback with empathy and kindness; say when something is too obvious, or pat, or pandering; and generally push our staff to grow. If all of that sounds like you, read on.
We have two supervising senior editors who lead the editorial direction of Planet Money along with the Executive Producer and are in close partnership with the hosts. One of those supervising senior editors will be half-time. This posting is to share the role of editor, ½ time, with that senior supervising senior editor for up to six months.
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Edit episodes, quickly, decisively, with insight, rigor, and kindness. Manage some.
• Ensure every episode meets our high standards for craft, journalism, tone, and substance.
• Keep the show from sounding boring, predictable, and generic.
• Approving or rejecting story pitches from staff and freelancers, along with other editorial staff, and provide clear reasons for your choices.
• As part of the leadership of this consensus-driven team, help set the editorial agenda in collaboration with hosts and other editorial staff, then empower, motivate, and encourage staff to achieve goals, creatively removing obstacles along the way.
• Re-writing stories alongside the hosts, including restructuring arcs, sharpening narration, punching up jokes, trimming episodes to time and whatever else is needed, sometimes on tight deadlines, and side-by-side in Zoom for long stretches.
• Thinking ahead with reporters about getting that dream tape with just the right question, or by being in just the right place.
• Participating in our collaborative group edit process.
• Offering direct, critical feedback with kindness, consideration, and collegiality.
• Embody the team values of kindness, consideration, empathy, inclusivity, diversity, and equity.
• Thinking big. Really big. Pushing the ambition of the team on all fronts is key – innovating in craft, format, journalism, narrative, insight, all of it.
• Be ambitious, thinking up large-scale projects for the team to tackle collaboratively.
• Keeping it fun!
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
• You do not need to be an expert in economics but you must be interested in the subject area and familiar with the basics of the field enough to lead nerdy conversations about subject area nuances.
• 7 years editing longform narrative audio, ideally on a show similar to Planet Money or under similar conditions (tight deadlines, news-adjacent, explanatory.)
• Experience leading a team of journalists, having tough conversations with empathy and kindness, aiding in the professional development of junior staff, motivating a team, maintaining high morale, and infusing the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and creativity into every aspect of the editorial process.
• 5 years of experience explaining complicated topics to audiences, as a journalist, writer, teacher or in other settings.
• 5 years experience in a deadline news environment (though this job is NOT itself a news job.)
• 5 Experience editing the work of others.
• Demonstrated experience innovating in storytelling (please share examples.)
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Daily news production experience, such as on a program like Morning Edition or All Things Considered or another fast-paced newsroom.
• Expertise in business and economics.
REQUIRED SKILLS
• Audio production skills in a Pro-Tools environment.
• Narrative audio editing.
• Good judgment.
EDUCATION REQUIREMENT
Formal education is not what matters to us. Though if you have studied economics or business, or work experience in those fields, please include that in your application.
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 the [Washington, DC / Culver City / New York City / Chicago] 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 temporary (6-month) part time position.
COMPENSATION
Hourly Rate: The U.S. based anticipated hourly rate for this opportunity is $65.86 - $83.17 an hour. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum hourly rate NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.
Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.
The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.
NPR Pay Range
$65.86 — $83.17 USD
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Salary/Benefits
$65.86 - 83.17 per hour