Associate Editor (Planetizen)

Urban Insight•Los Angeles, CA

1d•$50,000 - $60,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Planetizen is the most visited urban planning website in the United States, serving as an essential resource for planners, urbanists, and individuals interested in city development for 25 years. The platform publishes up to 40 pieces weekly across news, features, analysis, and commentary. Its sister product, Planetizen Courses, is a leading online professional education platform for planners. The Planetizen team fosters a collaborative and entrepreneurial environment that encourages continuous learning, growth, and the implementation of new ideas. This role is ideal for an early-to-mid career editor passionate about contributing to a healthy media ecosystem around urban development issues, with significant opportunities for growth in scope and status by pitching and championing new ideas. The Associate Editor will report to the Editorial Manager and will have substantial ownership over editorial quality and output, aiming to expand Planetizen's reach and engagement.

Requirements

2+ years of experience in a newsroom or other journalistic/editorial environment.
Hands-on experience managing external contributors.
Comfort in a fast-paced environment handling high volumes of content.
Ability to write and edit quickly while maintaining accuracy, clean copy, and overall editorial quality.
Strong judgment, critical thinking, and editorial instinct.
Ability to take initiative, self-start, and work independently yet collaboratively within a small team.
Excellent time-management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Ability to use data and other audience engagement measures to make decisions that optimize editorial performance.
Experience with Google Workspace, Google Analytics, Data Studio, Drupal, Canva, Sprout Social, or similar tools and systems.
Experience with or strong interest in urban planning; ability and enthusiasm to dive into the urbanism beat and quickly become an expert.

Responsibilities

Assigning and editing 2-5 feature, op-ed, analysis, and other editorial pieces per week, collaborating with external contributors on pitches and providing substantive, line, and copy edits.
Packaging content for publication, including writing headlines and deks, selecting relevant imagery, adhering to AP style, and formatting/uploading content in the CMS.
Actively participating in shaping editorial processes, content types, and overall editorial ideation, including identifying and solving barriers to success and proposing improvements.
Writing short editorial posts (e.g., monthly wrap-ups, Federal Action Tracker) and contributing unique feature, op-ed, or analysis content.
Sourcing, summarizing, and publishing approximately 30 essential urban planning news pieces per week for the Planetizen newsfeed.
Writing and formatting templated posts for Planetizen's social media feeds and newsletters.
Utilizing analytics and audience engagement metrics to monitor and optimize editorial content performance.
Completing editing and quality assurance tasks for various Planetizen products, including the Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs, Planetizen Courses, and AICP Exam Prep.