Deputy Managing Editor, WSJ. Magazine & Style News

Job Description:

WSJ. Magazine and The Wall Street Journal’s Style team are seeking a dynamic and experienced Deputy Managing Editor to guide the publishing schedule and project-manage an award-winning editorial and creative team, helping shepherd and sharpen content across all contexts and platforms.  

The ideal candidate is an experienced leader and deft problem-solver with a deep understanding of print and digital content strategy and content creation; of display, news value and the process behind high-wattage visual projects; and of the team-management required to get big, cross-functional projects off the ground. They will thrive in a fast-paced but warm, collegial environment, and be ready to push a strong brand forward with energy and enthusiasm.  They will serve as a trusted and dynamic motivator, manager and mentor to staff.

WSJ. Magazine sets the bar in defining luxury style, providing best-in-class fashion editorial and exceptional feature journalism to an affluent global readership.  The Wall Street Journal’s Style team blends deep reporting, sharp wit and good taste to create compulsively readable news stories on the subjects of style, entertainment and culture.

You will:

• Oversee editorial operations and status reports on stories and projects, including all publishing and planning activities, ensuring lineups for all teams are filled with sparkling ideas on time. 

• Work with editors, creative teams and production leadership to ensure deadlines are met, issues close on time and stories are presented across platforms at their very best. 

• Help set teamwide content strategy and goals, analyzing audience data and translating insights into smart, forward-looking editorial strategies that grow and engage readership.

• Collate and communicate regular updates on budget, personnel, recruitment, fellowships, legal/Standards vetting and overall team-management to the director of Editorial Operations and Editor-in-Chief in joint team strategy efforts.  

• Champion and coordinate dynamic, visually-led storytelling in close collaboration with creative leadership. Help identify opportunities to thoughtfully evolve or refresh existing strategy, particularly around emerging platforms and franchises. 

• Act as the internal megaphone of all the journalism we produce, working closely with departments across the newsroom and business, from the Product and Strategy teams to the Journal’s Communications, Marketing, Advertising teams and more to amplify reach. 

• Devise and communicate agendas for daily news meetings and biweekly all-hands staff meetings, including discussions of priorities with the editor-in-chief and other senior news editors. With Editor in Chief, ensure cadence of meetings is meeting all needs and helping fill lineup in timely manner. 

• Oversee all fact-checking procedures and onboard freelance fact checkers as needed to ensure all stories are vetted according to the Journal’s standards. 

• Supervise and assign out the assembly of team awards packets to nominate our best journalism for annual recognition; likewise supervise and foster inclusion of team News Associates or fellowship rotators, liaising with MEO.

• Plan trainings and team events (an annual retreat, etc.) that ensure best practices on newsroom strategy and audience goals are communicated and met.

• Ensure the top-tier execution and ethical standards of WSJ. Magazine and the wider Wall Street Journal are consistently met: that work is of impeccable quality across all platforms, and that The Journal’s codes of conduct and overall Standards & Ethics rules are met. 

You have:

• 7 to 10+ years of experience in journalism, with proven leadership in fast-paced newsrooms and/or long-lead magazine environments.

• Strong skills as a manager, and a proven track record of motivating teams and fostering new talent, as well as working collaboratively across departments to produce results.

• Excellent time-management and prioritization skills, the ability to deploy people and resources to meet a variety of goals across different deadlines. The organizational savvy to juggle daily deadlines while keeping long-term strategy in focus.

• An audience-first and platform-agnostic mind, with a sharp eye for how stories should live across various mediums.

• A strong high-level editorial instinct and a passion for ambitious storytelling, especially in the worlds of culture and style.