Editorial Assistant, Sleep & Appliances, NYT Wirecutter

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for.

Job Description

About the Role

Wirecutter is looking for a curious, enthusiastic, and organized editorial assistant to help us cover large appliances, vacuums, mattresses, and sleep-related products. This is a multifaceted position. You will be asked to proactively and reactively update current live content, and help us with market research, reporting, testing, product assembly, and photo-shoot and tester-day prepping.

As editorial assistant, you will report directly to the team’s supervising editor and collaborate with the other editor and writers on the team. A deep interest in appliances and sleep, and in thoughtful service-driven journalism. You will play an important role in keeping our catalog fresh and providing necessary operational support for our product ordering and testing, and our in-office photo shoots.

This position is based in New York City, with an expectation to work in-person in our Long Island City office.

Responsibilities

• Update reviews with new information ahead of seasonal reader interest, such as upcoming changes to our recommendations, products that we look forward to testing, and recent or long-term testing notes
• Systematically check and update existing reviews for internal consistency, flagging dated passages for revision, making corrections, and keeping internal tracking up to date
• Scan industry news for changes that affect products and advice in our areas of coverage, communicating swift responses to our readers with our editors and social media team
• Collaborate with copy editors, fact checkers, photo editors, producers, and editorial operations team to move changes through our editorial process
• Be directly involved in our cyclical planning process, collaborating with writers, editors, SEO strategists, and social team to map out and work on sweeps and updates for reviews and other posts
• Assist editors and writers in researching and reporting new guides, rewrites, and updates. This may involve scouting retail and online stores for delightful new products to test, interviewing sources, tracking down studies and data, testing products, attending press events, and more.
• Help with our team’s testing and photo shoot operations, from ordering products to test to receiving, unpacking, building, and organizing products in our LIC office. This may involve helping our team obtain (either online or in-store) props for photo shoots; and re-packaging products to send out for long-term testing or donation.
• Stay on top of trends across our areas of coverage to help expand our catalogue of guides.
• Help with our newsroom’s coverage of retail events (i.e., Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday), curated Wirecutter deal events, and other seasonal projects.
• Perform related work as assigned
• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.
• You will report to the Supervising Editor
  
  
  

Basic Qualifications

• 3 years of strong writing and editing skills for online and print publications
• Some experience in the area of large appliances, vacuums, and sleep (journalistic, retail, or industrial design)
• You have project management skills and communicate openly
• A passion for research-driven, truth-seeking, engaging service journalism
  
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with remote teams and collaborative software
• Empathy for the confused or frustrated shopper, and interest in improving the shopping and buying experience for our readers
• Interest in large appliances, vacuums, mattresses, and sleep and the issues that arise when shopping for or using products in these categories
• Familiarity with other publications that cover large appliances, vacuums, mattresses, and sleep-related products
  
  
  

Please include your résumé/CV, a cover letter, and any writing samples you may want to submit with your application. You can only upload one file in the “Résumé/CV” box, so you should combine and upload your résumé, cover letter, and any other materials as one file.

This is a union position as classified by the News Guild of New York.

The annual base pay range for this role is between $67,626.00 and $70,000.00.

Locations

Even with our office in New York City, Wirecutter remains a highly remote-friendly culture and is proud to employ incredible people across the country. Right now, we are eligible to hire in the following states: CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, ME, MA, MI, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, UT, VA, WA.

The New York Times is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce, one that reflects the varied global community we serve. Our journalism and the products we build in the service of that journalism greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which can only come from diversity of all types, across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

The New York Times Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. The New York Times Company will provide reasonable accommodations as required by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws. Individuals seeking an accommodation for the application or interview process should email reasonable.accommodations@nytimes.com. Emails sent for unrelated issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

The Company will further consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable "Fair Chance" laws.

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