Application Instructions

• Application Deadline: Monday, October 19th, at 5:00 pm ET.
• Submission Instructions: Please submit a cover letter in addition to your resume including a direct link to a story (audio or digital) that you edited and were particularly proud of. Please describe any challenges you encountered, and call out the contributions you made.

Intro to Position

The Network Desk represents NPR’s strategic commitment to deepening, broadening, and transforming how we partner with Member stations and Regional Hubs. As the Northeast Regional Editor, you will serve as the essential bridge between local station newsrooms across the Northeast and national NPR news programs and digital platforms. In this role, you will help identify, curate, and elevate distinctive local reporting to national audiences while helping stations plan and execute ambitious enterprise and breaking news coverage.

The ideal candidate brings a collaborative editorial mindset, sharp line-editing skills across audio and text, and a commitment to expanding the diversity of sources and stories emerging from the region.

NPR defines its Northeast Region as ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, and DC.

This is a union represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

This is an NPR editorial role covered under the terms of the NPR Ethics Handbook.All editorial staff are bound by this guidance. Editorial staff are defined as staff members who play a role in shaping the journalistic or creative direction of NPR's content, including events.

Responsibilities

• Network Editorial Coordination: Communicate and collaborate daily with journalists, news directors, and editors across Northeast regional hubs and Member stations to identify, develop, and coordinate coverage with national resonance.
• Content Editing & Quality Assurance: Edit, fact-check, and supervise the preparation of multiplatform material (audio, digital, broadcast) from station reporters and freelancers, ensuring all work meets NPR’s journalistic standards of fairness, accuracy, and technical quality.
• Breaking News Leadership: Coordinate rapid-response breaking news coverage from the region, directing station updates and dispatches for national shows, digital platforms, and hourly newscasts.
• Show & Platform Integration: Maintain ongoing communication with NPR daily news magazines (Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here & Now), podcasts, and the digital news desk regarding story length, angles, framing, and scheduling.
• Coverage Planning & Horizon Scanning: Track evolving regional news cycles, maintain forward-looking editorial calendars, and spot emerging cultural, political, and systemic trends across the Northeast.
• Editorial Mentorship & Training: Partner with Regional Hubs to conduct workshops, coaching sessions, and feedback discussions that strengthen station reporting capabilities and familiarize partners with NPR production workflows.
• Inclusive Sourcing & Story Development: Champion story ideas that reflect the full demographic and geographical diversity of the Northeast, actively expanding regional source networks.
• Desk Administration & Contributor Management: Coordinate administrative desk workflows, including processing freelancer agreements, story commissions, and reporter filing payments in accordance with established agreements.
• Network Collaboration: Partner with fellow regional editors and Network Desk leadership to refine communication pipelines, eliminate operational silos, and improve newsroom workflows.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

Required Skills

• 5+ years of professional journalism experience at with a reputable news organization.
• 3+ years of experience editing regional or national daily news coverage across audio and digital platforms.
• Demonstrated track record editing breaking news under tight deadlines with precision and journalistic integrity.
• Proven experience editing enterprise, investigative, or feature journalism, guiding stories from pitch to final audio/digital production.
• Sound journalistic judgment rooted in rigorous fact-checking, balance, fairness, and adherence to editorial ethics.
• Track record of building collaborative partnerships with decentralized reporters, freelancers, or station partners.
• Experience editing for both the ear (audio broadcast/podcasting) and the eye (digital news writing).
• Willingness to travel up to 10% of the time for visits to member stations and other stakeholders.

Preferred Skills

• Prior reporting or editing experience within the public media system (Member stations, regional news hubs, or public media collaborations).
• Deep familiarity with the socio-political, economic, and cultural landscape of the Northeast region.
• Bilingual or multilingual fluency relevant to regional coverage areas.

Required Skills/Competencies

• Editorial & Audio Craft: Exceptional news-writing, line-editing, and sound-rich audio structuring skills.
• Collaborative Leadership: Ability to offer constructive, empathetic, and clear feedback to journalists of varied experience levels.
• Adaptability & Calm Under Pressure: Ability to prioritize multiple assignments and navigate breaking news calmly and decisively.
• Cross-Platform Agility: Comfort navigating modern digital content management systems, audio editing tools, and communication platforms (Slack, AirTable, etc.).

Education Requirement

• Bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, or a related field, or equivalent relevant work experience.

Work Location

• Remote Required: This is a remote required role. This role includes duties that are better performed or are required to be performed in a designated location OUTSIDE of an NPR facility. The employee is required to work at a designated remote work location within the designated coverage area: ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD or DC.

Job Type

• This is a full time, exempt position.

Compensation

Salary Range: The U.S. based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $110,000 - $112,000 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

Benefits: NPR offers access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees.

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.

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