Senior Editor, Arts and Culture Hub

NPR • Columbia, CA

19h • $127,500 - $137,499 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Editor brings enthusiasm and fresh ideas to NPR’s cultural insights coverage, serving a curious audience and working with Arts & Culture Hub editors and platform leads. The editor responds to news and guides coverage across broadcast and digital, helping explain the values, beliefs, and social dynamics shaping culture. Coverage includes current artistic movements and trends as well as deeper examinations of meaningful cultural change. The role helps the team break news and ideas and makes key decisions about day-to-day coverage across the team.

This union-represented editorial role is covered by a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement and NPR’s Ethics Handbook. The position is hybrid, with an office presence required 2–3 days per week at the Washington, D.C., Culver City, or New York City location; the employee must reside in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Culver City, or New York City. It is full-time and exempt. The anticipated U.S. salary range is $127,500–$137,499, plus benefits.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience editing arts, entertainment, and culture coverage.
• Experience editing for radio and/or podcasting.
• Experience covering arts and culture, including areas such as movies, television, visual arts, and books.
• Digital media experience, including copy and visual editing, coordination with news apps, and familiarity with content management systems and collaboration tools.
• A strong record of multiplatform thinking and execution in daily news, feature, and enterprise coverage.
• Experience making editorial decisions, including assigning reporters and correspondents.
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously under tight deadlines and changing priorities or conditions.
• Ability to work quickly and efficiently under deadline pressure.
• Ability and willingness to work varied shifts.
• Demonstrated collaboration and leadership skills.
• Excellent writing skills, including news, headline, and broadcast writing, as well as copy editing.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in challenging situations.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with NPR member stations and the public media system.
• Some experience with and understanding of sports and sports journalism.
• Flexibility, creativity, and eagerness to innovate and embrace change.
• Long-standing relationships and contacts in the entertainment industry.

Responsibilities

• Generate story ideas and review pitches with Society & Culture desk reporters, covering areas such as movies, books, sports, religion, and education.
• Develop storytelling approaches and sources and determine the best platform for coverage.
• Direct daily beat news and feature coverage in collaboration with platform leads, desks, and other teams.
• Fill in for or supplement sports editing, which may involve weekend work.
• Involve digital and visuals teams early in story and event planning and idea generation.
• Develop multiplatform coverage plans for major events and stories with NPR teams and divisions as needed.
• Edit broadcast, digital, social, and newsletter stories, supporting critics and correspondents in producing work with speed, voice, and nuance.
• Advise show programmers and hosts on coverage threads, guest bookings, and interview questions.
• Perform audio production and apply SEO, headline-writing, and other engagement practices to prepare digital stories for publication.
• Participate in, edit, and direct news coverage as needed, including some evenings, weekends, and occasional holidays.
• Ensure desk content meets NPR standards and practices, including accuracy, fairness, honesty, and impartiality.

Benefits

• Access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents, including health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being options.
• Medical, dental, vision, life and accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, and short-term disability plan options.
• Voluntary retirement savings plans for eligible employees.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior