Editor, Cannonball

The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do as a company. It’s why we have a world-renowned newsroom that sends journalists to report on the ground from nearly 160 countries. It’s why we focus deeply on how our readers will experience our journalism, from print to audio to a world-class digital and app destination. And it’s why our business strategy centers on making journalism so good that it’s worth paying for.

The New York Times is looking for an experienced, imaginative senior editor to lead Wesley Morris's weekly culture show, Cannonball, which debuted in 2025. This role is fundamentally about partnership: working closely with one of the great cultural critics of our time to keep developing the show and reaching new heights; and leading a small team of producers to translate Wesley's critical voice, instincts, and curiosity into a show that feels as engaging as it is intellectually sharp.

The show's format is loose and conversational. Episodes are built around Wesley's exchanges with fellow critics, artists, and cultural figures; at their best they feel real, incisive, intimate, surprising, loose, unpredictable and crackling with on-the-fly cultural criticism. The senior editor will play a key role in refining this format, ensuring that each episode feels cohesive, dynamic, and fun while showcasing the distinct voice and authority that define Wesley's work.

This job is for you if: you are a rigorous editor, a strong producer and an active, generative collaborator — someone who can listen as well as direct. You enjoy the give and take involved in challenging, sharpening, and expanding ideas in real time with a dynamic team. You know and have respect for Wesley's critical voice. You are an experienced and accomplished culture editor/writer/producer/thinker in your own right, someone with ideas about what's going on in the world of movies, TV, books, music, art and more. You have a keen sense of who the interesting critical voices in this landscape are, and a sense of how to program great guests each week. You are well-organized, someone capable of leading a multidisciplinary team through the many overlapping stages of development and production on multiple episodes at a time. You're adept at working within a larger editorial system, taking notes and other input. You have an understanding of YouTube and other social platforms where the show may travel. You have a feel for the right way to use audience data to inform editorial decision-making. You're adaptable, friendly, creative, and discerning. And above all, you're interested in and capable of doing all the work—both the glamorous and exciting stuff and the basic but necessary stuff—to build a successful show.

As senior editor of Cannonball, you will also be part of the staff of The New York Times Magazine, where Wesley is a staff writer and where the show is based. You will draw on and be part of the magazine's cultural coverage.

This is an in-office position, based in New York City and includes regular attendance in the office four days each week. There may be some flexibility to work remotely per your departmental guidance.

Responsibilities:

Serve as an editorial partner to Wesley Morris, shaping episode ideas, refining arguments, and helping translate his voice and sensibility into a compelling episode.

Come up with interesting ideas for guests and manage the process of bringing them in and staging successful conversations with Wesley.

Lead the editorial process from pitch through final cut, including story development, scripting, structural editing, and post-production feedback.

Collaborate with producers, editors, and Magazine and Shows leadership to ensure editorial clarity, creative ambition, and high production quality across every episode.

Manage and mentor a multidisciplinary team, setting clear expectations, providing feedback, and fostering a collaborative, high-performing culture.

Oversee production timelines and workflows, ensuring deadlines are met without compromising quality or ambition.

Maintain a strong, consistent editorial voice while pushing the show to expand creatively and reach new audiences.

Develop new formats and concepts for a show that's still evolving.

Work with Magazine leadership to integrate the show into the Magazine's editorial plans, voice and design, helping the show grow into a recurring, high‑impact Magazine franchise.

Partner with audience, analytics, and platform teams to understand viewer and listener behavior and refine the show's format, distribution, and growth strategy.

Work cross-functionally with other newsroom desks and teams to identify opportunities for collaboration, guest booking, and editorial alignment.

Work proactively with Legal and Standards departments to keep the show free of corrections and/or legal challenges.

Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.

You will report to the Magazine's Deputy Editor overseeing Culture.

Basic Qualifications:

5+ years experience editing/producing cultural coverage—criticism, cultural reporting, and storytelling in a variety of formats.

5+ years experience in audio and/or video production and editing, including managing soup‑to‑nuts production of long‑form, conversational shows.

Deep interest in movies, TV, books, music, art, and all forms of culture (both rarefied/literary and pop).

Sophisticated sense of how criticism can work to open up, explore and define a work of art by reading it closely, putting it in larger context, and registering a personal response to it.

Sharp instincts for the ways that ideas about culture intersect with everything else: politics, history, technology, identity, business, and everyday life.

Familiarity with digital storytelling formats.

Experience working with talent.

Highly skilled at every aspect of editing — from structuring episodes and pacing to line editing and shaping host conversations to guiding group edits and editorial brainstorms.

Belief in The New York Times's mission and a strong commitment to journalistic independence, fairness and accuracy.

Preferred Qualifications:

5+ years experience with a weekly publishing cadence and in managing teams under deadline.

5+ years experience managing teams, including setting expectations, giving feedback and supporting people's growth.

Proven ability to foster an inclusive, diverse and innovative environment, both on‑air and within the team.

Deep familiarity with vertical video platforms and the changing social media landscape.

Knowledge of YouTube and social video strategy, or a demonstrated ability to learn and apply platform best practices in partnership with audience and video colleagues.

Experience in Adobe Premiere.

REQ-020658

Additional Compensation and Benefits:

For roles in the U.S., dependent on your role, you may be eligible for variable pay, such as an annual bonus and restricted stock. Benefits may include medical, dental and vision benefits, Flexible Spending Accounts (F.S.A.s), a company-matching 401(k) plan, employee stock purchase plan, paid vacation, paid sick days, paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement and professional development programs.

For roles outside of the U.S., information on benefits will be provided during the interview process.

The annual base pay range for this role is between:

$145,000 — $160,000 USD

Candidate Use of GenAI Tools:

We’re excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process.

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