Wired seeks a features director

WIRED is looking for an experienced, collaborative, deeply invested leader to oversee our ambitious, award-winning features program, special projects, and the print edition of our English-language magazine. This is a career-defining role, with the opportunity to do the most formidable journalism of your career and lead WIRED to new heights of editorial excellence and renown.

Reporting to WIRED’s executive editor and working closely with a team of news directors, as well as WIRED’s global editorial director and managing editor, you will be responsible for WIRED’s most high-touch journalism: deeply reported, carefully crafted longform storytelling, expansive and impactful investigations, and thematic, inventive, internet-rattling special packages.

The right person for this job does it all: You’ll manage a team of features editors spanning both US coasts and the UK; you’ll be hands-on, owning some story edits and top edits and getting in the weeds wherever necessary to drive our journalism forward; and you’ll be equally comfortable and adept at big-picture, strategic thinking, particularly around bold and forward-looking story ideas, innovative digital storytelling, and cross-platform execution—from print to TikTok. You’ll ensure that WIRED is telling the right big story, in the right way and on the right platforms, at the perfect time. Prescience is important to us, so polish up your crystal ball, because you’ll need to peek into the future to know which story we must assign as a feature today to look like geniuses tomorrow (and who the perfect person is, both on WIRED’s staff and out there in the world, to write it).

Most importantly, this is a job for a nimble, highly collaborative, cross-functional leader who can work seamlessly and fluently across WIRED’s leadership team, our newsroom, and the company overall. Shepherding WIRED reporters, at various career stages, through the features and special projects process is a must; so too is working closely with leaders in news, design, and video, to make sure that iterative reporting is laddering into longform projects and that we’re savvy and creative about story execution and presentation. You must also be highly organized, capable of tracking multiple, complex stories and projects at various stages of development and on differing timelines—some stories might need to crash in six weeks, while others can take six months. The right person for this role also has a combination of print and digital bonafides: They can make a great magazine, and they can make a story or a package resonate and raise eyebrows online.

In short: If you love executing on big ideas, mentoring talented journalists, and competing to win, we’d love to talk to you. You should also be a sensitive, emotionally attuned manager who leads by finding the right balance between inspiring people and pushing them.

Responsibilities include:

• Collaborate with WIRED’s executive editor, global editorial director, and other editorial leaders in shaping WIRED’s features and special projects strategy, across coverage areas and platforms (from print to dot-com to TikTok)
• Conceive of novel, innovative, blockbuster-potential feature stories and package ideas; work with WIRED editors and writers to fine-tune their ideas, and evaluate pitches from the WIRED team and freelancers alike
• Inspire, coach, and lead a dynamic team of journalists, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment.
• Delegate and manage all work across the features team, providing clear direction, constructive feedback, and serving as a resource for team members to help resolve challenges and improve outputs; ensure that WIRED staffers with an interest in features are nurtured and supported through the process
• Working with WIRED leadership, oversee WIRED’s print editions across the US and UK
• Edit and top edit features as needed; you’ll also play a key leadership role in packaging for both print and online
• Recruit top-tier freelance writers to contribute to WIRED’s features program, with a specific focus on diversity among our contributors
• Work closely with WIRED’s operations team to ensure that both print production and digital deadlines are being met
• Work closely with WIRED’s newsroom to channel ongoing reporting into features, and with WIRED’s design, video, research, copy editing, and social teams on all aspects of features and special projects
• Collaborate closely with our social media and audience development team to track audience KPIs for features and special projects
• Represent WIRED in the media and at live events

Qualifications:

• Bold, experimental thinking, and a visionary ability to spot a pitch that will become a blockbuster story. Bonus if you can identify and act on themes and trends early; WIRED needs to be ahead of the curve
• Extensive experience leading in-depth reporting and ambitious journalism, including narrative storytelling and investigative, legally sensitive projects, at a national or global outlet(s)
• Demonstrated ability to turn feature ideas into stories that competitors will envy and readers will adore, with first-rate packaging and the strategic format and presentation to match
• Excellent skills in structuring narratives and line editing for rhythm, beauty, and impact; the ability to give concrete and actionable guidance and feedback to editors and writers throughout a reporting and story editing process
• Ability to work collaboratively and collegially with a team of reporters, editors, fact checkers, copy editors, designers, photo editors, digital producers, social media editors, and external partners from across a media organization
• Facility with packaging for digital and print audiences; the ability to determine the best strategic way to tell a story and on which platforms
• A demonstrated knack for hiring at all levels, and for developing and nurturing talent
• Strong emotional intelligence, conflict resolution skills, and the ability to collaborate and lead cross-functionally and across time zones and locations
• Exceptional organizational skills, with an ability to efficiently juggle many responsibilities and tasks
• Fluency in newsroom analytics and experience in using them to shape decision-making
• Experience covering consumer technology, science, and business; an enthusiasm for WIRED’s coverage areas overall

The expected base salary range for this position is from $160,000 to $200,000.

To apply, go here.