Senior Writer/Editor, Today, Explained Newsletter

Vox is seeking a creative, flexible journalist to lead the Today, Explained newsletter, our flagship daily email product.

This job will include both editing and writing: you should see yourself as the host of the newsletter, with the responsibility of helping the audience understand the biggest news stories and conversations affecting our world. This might mean finding an angle to write your own original news analysis, doing a quick Q&A with a Vox journalist, or assigning a short piece to someone else in the newsroom, then editing it for publication. You’ll be responsible for the newsletter as a whole, and for ensuring that it’s consistently engaging with the news and the zeitgeist, and that the reading experience feels creative, fresh, and surprising.    

We’re looking for a sharp, nimble editorial thinker — a strong writer and a sharp, creative editor — who can work with us to set a strategy and direction for the newsletter, then carry it out from day to day. Flexibility and creativity with formats is a must. You should be eager to try new approaches to bring clarity and understanding to our audience: curious people outside of the media bubble who want to be informed, not overwhelmed..

This role is housed within Vox’s policy, politics and ideas team and may also include other editorial duties. Most of the work will happen during business hours on weekdays, but evening and weekend work will be required as the news demands.

Vox candidly shepherds audiences through politics and policy, business and pop culture, food, science, and everything else that matters.

Vox is part of Vox Media, the leading modern media company. We guide our audience from discovery to obsession. We inspire essential conversations about what’s now, what’s next, and what’s possible.

As a community of journalists and storytellers, business professionals, creators and technologists, we believe it is a moral and business imperative to amplify voices: to cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our organization and media. This applies to our candidates, our teams, our storytelling, our creative work, and our platforms, products, and partnerships.

• Work with editorial leadership to set a vision for the Today Explained newsletter in keeping with the broader Vox editorial and business strategy.
• Determine the editorial calendar and work with editors across the site to assign original reporting or short analysis. Stay on top of the news, both foreign and domestic, working to find and assign original angles for newsletter coverage.
• Pitch and write for the newsletter yourself. While the exact ratio of editing to writing will vary week to week, this editor/writer should see themselves as the newsletter’s host — bringing the audience what they need to know, whether that’s introducing a short piece from another writer, conducting an interview or Q&A, or writing an analysis yourself.
• Manage a part-time staff editor who handles newsletter production, among other tasks
• Monitor and discuss data and analytics to understand what’s resonating with the newsletter audience and make it as useful as possible
• Other duties as assigned

• 5+ years of combined experience as a writer and/or editor
• Strong editing, writing, and idea generation skills
• Excellent news judgment and the ability to find original angles on big stories
• Flexible and creative thinking about the best way to serve the audience and create a high quality newsletter. Previous newsletter experience may be helpful, but is not required.
• A collaborative approach to your work – this is a position that requires constant cooperation with other teams to assign and adapt pieces for the newsletter
• Management experience is a plus, but not required

If you think you have what it takes, but don't meet every single point in our job posting, please apply with a cover letter to let us know how you believe you can bring your unique skills to the Vox Media team or get in touch! We’ve hired chefs who became editors, DJs who became UX designers, and sommeliers who became writers.

This job is remote. 

This is a permanent, full-time position. This job is benefits-eligible. We pride ourselves in providing comprehensive benefits to support all of our employees wherever they are in life. You can find more information about our benefits here.

This role is a part of the Vox Media Union, represented by the Writers Guild of America, East 

Vox Media is committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone can show up as their authentic selves and create their best work. We recognize that great stories, platforms, products and services come from people with all manner of backgrounds and experiences. We recognize that our commitments require ongoing work and sustained attention, as well as adaptation to new insights and best practices. We keep our diversity data public for the sake of accountability, transparency and communication. Learn more about our values here, and our approach to corporate citizenship here. 

Vox Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, disability, national origin, protected veteran status, age, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state, or local law. Vox Media will also consider all qualified applicants with criminal histories in accordance with applicable Fair Chance laws. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations as part of the application process to candidates with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation as part of the application process, please contact our People & Culture team ([email protected]).

Our recruiting team will go through applications in a timely manner. Please note that our recruiting team will only contact you from @voxmedia.com email addresses, never via text message. Read more about how our recruiting team operates, and how to protect yourself from recruitment fraud, here.