Deputy Editor, Columns

Overview

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. Independent journalism is at the heart of all we do. We have a world‑renowned newsroom reporting from nearly 160 countries, with a focus on reader experience across print, audio, digital and app destinations. Our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that its worth paying for.

About the Role

The New York Times Magazine is seeking an experienced editorial leader to conceive, shape and drive a new slate of digital columns. These columns constitute a magazine within the magazine, focused on shortform, digitally-native work that utilizes a variety of media in recurring, well-defined formats. The deputy editor of columns would be the primary lead on all of these efforts.

The magazine publishes roughly ten such columns, with cadences ranging from weekly to monthly, and reaches a broad audience both on- and off-platform. The Deputy Editor will lead a team of magazine editors and work closely with designers, photo editors, video producers, video journalists, audio producers, developers and magazine leadership to oversee existing columns and conceive of and launch new ones that draw from a range of modes, including analytical, narrative, and explanatory journalism, and formats including text, video, audio, animation and photography, covering topics from sports to politics to culture to international affairs.

This is an intensely creative role that also requires strong organizational skills and the ability to lead a team of editors charged with assigning and editing the magazines weekly columns. You will collaborate with designers, photo editors, video journalists, audience editors and others. You must have extensive experience editing news, enterprise and explanatory stories, and a proven track record of launching verticals that reach broad audiences.

You should have a diverse roster of writers and work well with editors, photo editors and designers. You should be familiar with producing journalism in other mediums (video and audio). You should possess a constant stream of ideas, enthusiasm for covering the news with energy, and be comfortable with a range of editorial work—from line editing sharp writing to feedback on shortform video.

You should be deeply collaborative, able to see good ideas wherever they come from, and adept at fostering creativity in others. You should be an empathetic manager who is excited to help people grow. You will become a core leader at the magazine and should be a voice at the table with other top editors weighing in on editorial direction, strategy and operations.

This is a new role on a new team, and you will have the opportunity to shape the position based on your skills and background. This is an in‑office position based in New York City, with regular attendance in the office four days per week. There may be some flexibility to work remotely per departmental guidance.

• Manage a team of editors to brainstorm, assign and publish various columns per week, driving coverage in the form of weekly magazine columns.
• Lead your team and others in brainstorming fresh ideas for existing columns and new concepts for future columns.
• Think strategically about the weekly mix of columns, ensuring ideas are current, varied and exciting.
• Provide fast and effective editorial feedback on ideas and drafts, and manage the columns process from start to finish, ensuring smooth and organized closes.
• Collaborate with visual editors, designers and photo and video editors to produce visual stories and pioneer new visual formats.
• Adhere to deadlines and ensure that other editors and writers do the same.
• Work closely with audience editors to develop audience strategies around columns and promote them on the home page, social media and other platforms.
• Meet regularly with other top editors and the editor‑in‑chief as a leader at the magazine, and participate in desk‑wide management initiatives.
• Write (and rewrite) headlines and provide feedback on illustrations.
• Oversee the translation of digital columns into a weekly FOB in the print magazine.
• Support team development, culture and…