Senior Editor, Entertainment and Features (Temporary)

The Los Angeles Times is looking to hire an experienced editor who will work across our Entertainment and Features desks temporarily. This collaborative team player will assign and edit stories across arts, books and wellness, and be highly skilled at packaging stories for readers interested in Los Angeles experiences and culture. They will think about arts coverage through a curatorial things-to-do lens, books coverage with a roundup mindset and wellness coverage from a California perspective. They will be a curious consumer of online entertainment and lifestyle content and be a fan of our guide-as-map format. Occasionally this manager may also assist with editing across other Entertainment and Features beats, including plants, home design, West Coast experiences, the outdoors, movies, TV and music.

Responsibilities:

• Assign and edit stories from staff writers with a sharp focus on strategic goals
• Work with freelancers, including recruitment, contract and invoice coordination, assignment, editing and finalizing internal production elements
• Develop audience-minded angles and write strong digital headlines that stand out from the crowd and emphasize the L.A. experience
• Collaborate with team members to plan digital publication strategy, from digital headlines to social media promotion
• Coordinate with editorial staff, including photo, design and copy desks, to produce stories online and in print
• Lead all elements of project management for print and digital special packages, including ideation, assignment and project execution
• Keep an astute eye on what to cover and what to skip
• Ensure that diverse voices are central to our stories, subjects and staffing
• Help writers to develop their talents and elevate their work
• Manage direct reports, including conducting annual performance reviews; holding goal-setting meetings; approving timecards and absence requests; and other tasks
• Occasionally report and write for publication

• Five or more years of editing experience or relevant journalistic experience
• Laser-sharp line-editing chops, top-notch news judgment and an intuitive sense of the framing, timing, social media strategy and SEO positioning that allow a story or package to sing online
• Ability to constantly generate story ideas or new ways to tell stories for a digital audience
• Must be organized and able to complete work under deadline pressure
• A willingness to try, evaluate, refine and re-try new approaches
• Prior experience with publishing tools, including content management systems
• A track record of nurturing writers, from the entry-level to the experienced