Deputy Politics Editor

Job Description

BuzzFeed

The Role

BuzzFeed News is hiring a Deputy Politics Editor to help shape and guide our political coverage and manage some of the team's journalists.

The job will require you to assign and brainstorm story ideas and angles for breaking and enterprise reporting on the politics desk. You will equally need to know how to listen to and develop reporters' ideas and pitches and guide them through each stage of their reporting.

The team's goal each day is to produce excellent political journalism that is substantially reported, creative, accountability-focused, or revelatory - from sharply-framed daily reports to scoops to features underpinned by the real-world consequences that policies and politics have on people in the US. Our coverage may be about politics and political culture, campaigns, movements, Congress, the White House, the courts, or government agencies. The editor should not be beholden to a conventional idea of what matters in politics, and you should take seriously the concerns of people and sources under-represented in political reporting and make sure that is reflected in our coverage.

You Will

While there's no typical day here, one day you could be heads down working with a reporter to perfect a single story, the next you could be launching reporters on sudden political news and brainstorming ways for the team to cut through and break news. There may also be times when you will write or report your own stories, although editing and working with the team's reporters will always be the priority.

We are also looking for an editor who isn't afraid of experimentation, and who embraces BuzzFeed News's ethos of being willing to try anything once and see how it connects with our readers.

You Have

You should have several years experience in political news, with a record of working on breaking news or enterprise coverage, and an understanding of the key and rising figures in US politics and the forces - both in Washington and around the country - defining its direction. You should also bring ideas about how BuzzFeed's politics coverage should look, both regarding specific story ideas and the direction of the team.

We expect this to be a job that you can grow into, and BuzzFeed News will provide support in your development as a story editor, manager, and newsroom leader. As you progress, you will take on increasing direct management responsibilities and work with reporters in tandem with the politics editor to steer the direction of the team.

Because of that, you don't have to come into this role with editing or managing experience; the most important thing is that you want to develop your career as an editor and manager. We understand everyone has a different path to their goals in this industry.

To Apply

We ask that you apply for the job with a resume, brief cover letter, and clips that you have worked on as an editor, reporter, or producer. We may later ask candidates for a written memo responding to several questions, to take an edit test, and to go through rounds of interviews with journalists on the team and throughout the newsroom.

You will report to our politics editor, who is based in New York, and most of the politics team is based in New York or Washington, DC. The deputy editor does not need to be based in either place; their location is negotiable.

All job applications must be received through the official BuzzFeed Jobs board (https://www.buzzfeed.com/about/jobs), including referrals. It is BuzzFeed's practice to not schedule job interviews until after an application is submitted through our jobs board.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rz5bjq-3-145-60-166-42 in your application.