Food Editor

Hearst•Dallas, TX

10d•Onsite

About The Position

North Texas is one of the most exciting food scenes in the country and The Dallas Morning News is looking for an editor who's as obsessed with covering it as our audience is with consuming it. This is one of the most-read, most-engaged beats in our newsroom — and we're just getting started. We're growing fast with digital stories, social video and our popular Eat Drink D-FW podcast, and we've kicked off a series of top restaurant guides that our audience is already devouring. This is just the start. We need a leader who's ready to make all of it happen. This is a role for someone who thinks big, moves fast and genuinely loves food culture, not just what's on the plate, but the people, places and stories behind it. If you're the kind of editor who can inspire a team, spot a great story and understand what keeps an audience coming back for more, we want to hear from you.

Requirements

A bachelor's degree in journalism or a related field and at least five years of experience
Exceptional news judgment, accuracy and core journalism skills, including a flair for headlines and a sharp editorial eye
A genuine passion for food culture that informs smart, impactful coverage
Strong ability to edit everything from quick-turn breaking news to in-depth enterprise stories
Fluency in audience analytics and the ability to translate data insights into newsgathering decisions
Expertise in multi-platform digital content strategy across desktop, mobile, social and emerging platforms
Strong planning and organizational skills with keen attention to detail
A collaborative, people-first approach to coaching and developing journalists
An excellent communicator who thrives under deadline pressure and works well across diverse teams
Creative, forward-thinking mindset aligned with our growth goals

Nice To Haves

Experiment with Advanced AI to enhance journalism and reporting efforts
Generate headline options, SEO keywords or alert language
Clean up grammar, apply style and improve clarity
Version stories for different formats (video, audio) or platforms (social media)
Monitor public meetings and get alerts with transcripts and video
AI-assisted data processing and summarization, human-verified before use

Responsibilities

Lead and manage a team of two food reporters, a restaurant critic and a digital producer, setting priorities and providing hands-on coaching to help each person grow.
Oversee strategy for food coverage, including assigning and editing stories for digital and print, managing newsletters and monitoring metrics to identify opportunities for growth
Use analytics to make informed decisions about story timing, placement and audience engagement, and share those insights with your team
Work with editors to ensure stories are publication-ready with strong visuals and compelling presentation
Coordinate with our social media, audience and photo teams to maximize the reach and impact of coverage
Help plan coverage strategies for major events, breaking news and enterprise projects across digital and print
Assist with planning and coordinating video and audio projects, including the weekly Eat Drink D-FW podcast
Lead the next phase of our top restaurant dining guides series, growing it into a must-read franchise that keeps our audience coming back for more.
Responsible for all aspects of employee management, including recruitment, interviewing, selection, onboarding and retention
Conduct regular performance evaluations; provide constructive feedback and coaching to support employee development and accountability
Administer progressive discipline and counseling as needed, in alignment with company policies and procedures
Oversee scheduling, workload distribution and delegation of responsibilities to ensure balanced team performance and productivity