Visual Editor - Special Projects

Projects & Initiatives is a newsroom team dedicated to telling stories and serving audiences using innovative reporting and packaging techniques, sometimes sustained by commercial, nonprofit or other funders and advertisers. We prioritize projects that generate broader learnings for the newsroom, whether through new visual formats, audience engagement or reporting techniques.

This desk serves as a nexus between the newsroom, the business side, Research and Development (R&D) and our subbrands, aligning ambitions, priorities and major opportunities across these groups.

Recent examples of the team’s work include explorations of pasta tourism, the hidden LGBT history of Harlem, the scary future of New York flooding and the wildly popular series about the mathematics of everyday life. 

You will lead and coordinate large-scale and quick-turnaround visual projects that align with this mission. You bring an entrepreneurial mindset, strong journalistic and digital instincts, and the diplomatic skills to unite disparate groups while upholding Times values and our evolving visual storytelling.

Journalistic judgment, creativity and meticulous attention to detail are essential, as is a proven record of publishing ambitious work, collaborating across teams, and translating story ideas into compelling visual concepts and vice versa.

This is an in-office position based in New York and includes regular attendance in the office four days each week. There may be some flexibility to work remotely per your departmental guidance.

Responsibilities:

• Conceive, commission and edit special projects in a variety of story forms.
• Lead and coordinate large-scale and quick-turnaround visual projects that align with the Special Projects mission and incorporate opportunities for technological experimentation.
• Serve as a nexus between the newsroom, the business side, R&D and subbrands, aligning ambitions, priorities and major opportunities across these groups.
• Engage with business and advertising colleagues on confidential commercial partnerships and weigh commercial interests as a feature of the presentation of editorial content
• Work in partnership with freelance staff, visual journalism desks, other newsroom departments, the R&D team and outside organizations to deliver ambitious visual projects.
• Manage the work of staff and freelance reporters, among other contributors.
• Work with Projects and Initiatives’s leadership to shape editorial ideas into visual and multimedia story opportunities.
• Act as a point person/project manager for multimedia projects, calling meetings, setting deadlines, providing feedback and supporting development.
• Collaborate closely with editors on other desks, as well as video, photo and graphics editors, designers and art directors across the newsroom.
• Help drive the desk to create new digital experiences and story forms.
• Guide the team toward greater fluency when it comes to conceptualizing, editing and executing new story forms.
• Show strong editorial judgment, working with Times editors, standards and legal department for ethical and legal questions.
• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.
• You will report to a Deputy Managing Editor.

Basic Qualifications:

• 7+ years of editing experience in a newsroom environment, with a focus on visual journalism.
• Substantive experience within one of the following visual journalism disciplines: Design, Information graphics, Video journalism or Photojournalism.
• Demonstrated ability to conceive and create compelling stories that incorporate video, photography, text and audio.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong editorial judgment and design sensibility with a proven ability to translate editorial priorities into compelling and/or innovative multimedia storytelling
• Knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere.
• Technical and visual resourcefulness, including the ability to assess the relevance of emerging technologies to our journalism and their potential for strong journalistic outcomes.
• Entrepreneurial and strategic mindset, with strong journalistic and digital instincts.
• Deep understanding of the values of Times journalism and of our evolving visual storytelling.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Management experience
• Willingness to work a flexible schedule as news demands
• A passion for journalism across coverage areas
• Experience meeting deadlines and to adapt to change in a daily, unpredictable news production environment.
• Exceptional organizational and diplomatic skills to bring together disparate groups

REQ-020892

Candidate Use of GenAI Tools:

We’re excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process.

If you’re an engineering candidate, we’ll let you know what specific GenAI tools you are permitted to use for your technical assessment.

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