Wirecutter hires Builder as deputy editorial director

Wirecutter editorial director Lauren Sullivan sent out the following:

I’m elated to announce that Maxine Builder, a top editor at New York Magazine, will join us next month to lead an ambitious expansion of Wirecutter’s short-form content.

Maxine is a service journalism powerhouse who has played a key role in driving the editorial vision for The Strategist, the product review and shopping vertical at New York Magazine. She started there as a staff writer in 2017 before becoming its top editor in 2021.

At The Strategist, Maxine has overseen the launch of new franchises (e.g., Best in Class), verticals (travel) and newsletters (Secret Strategist and The Strategist Beauty Brief), all while helping to ensure that the publication’s sharp, crisp voice carried through.

Her proven leadership skills and ingenuity are just what we have been looking for in a newly created role, deputy editorial director for discovery.

At Wirecutter, Maxine will partner with colleagues across the company to spearhead the development of exciting new franchises and formats that bring our journalists’ reporting to life in ever-more creative ways. She’ll also conceptualize and launch new editorial series that generate audience excitement while reinforcing just how rigorous and extensive Wirecutter’s testing is.

She will work closely with several editorial leaders to build our short-form processes — from pitch to production to promotion — and ensure that the newsroom functions with quickness and agility, helping us better serve readers.

Our expansion of short-form, discovery-oriented journalism is an exciting opportunity for Wirecutter to become more helpful to more people, and is a crucial part of our growth strategy. I’m simply delighted that we have someone as exceptional as Maxine leading this initiative.

— Lauren