• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $75,500 - $77,500

Position Summary

Reporting to the Columbia University editor-in-chief of Public Books [PB], the Managing Editor is responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing the ongoing execution of strategic and operational plans for Public Books. The purpose of this position is to manage communications, strategy, and operations for Public Books, an online magazine that provides a broad platform for scholarly ideas. The incumbent will supervise any interns, freelancers, associate and assistant editors, or ACLS Public Fellows on staff at Public Books and will oversee all phases of the editorial production process.

Responsibilities

• • Organize and oversee all events

    Strategy and Operations:

    • Supervise interns, associate and assistant editors, freelancers, and any ACLS Public Fellows, including hiring, training, and assigning fact-checking, copyediting, and other related production tasks
    • Act as primary liaison to editors-in-chief and section editors and respond to questions from contributors
    • Collaborate with editors-in-chief on organizational and strategic goals so as to grow and better serve the magazine’s readers
    • Organize and lead weekly staff meeting: develop agenda, distribute it, take and distribute notes, and handle follow-up on tasks and projects
    • Onboard all new commissioning editors
    • Plan and organize twice-yearly meeting of commissioning editors
    • Schedule twice-yearly meetings of editorial board and advisory board
    • Create and maintain accounts for technical systems and databases related to the magazine’s production
    • Set up email accounts and access to project-management software for staff
    • Create and manage online donation drive to help fundraise for Public Books

    Production:

    • Oversee the publication’s editorial pipeline (facilitating the flow of content through the various editorial stages, from commission to published article)
    • Maintain editorial calendar (assigning publication dates based on a variety of factors and adjusting as necessary)
    • Assign all fact-checking, copyediting, and upload tasks
    • Proofread and publish all articles
    • Create and modify editor commissioning targets and schedules, liaising with section editors about forthcoming content and offering systems and procedures tutorials

     

    Editorial: 

    • Develop and execute new ideas for content to promote audience development
    • Edit select essays for development and style
    • Resolve queries regarding reprints and translations
    • Manage excerpts program by establishing relationships with trade and academic presses

     

    Publicity and Events:

    • Develop and implement a strategic communications plan to publicize content
    • Oversee social media efforts of assistant and associate editor

  Partnerships:

  • Initiate and manage partnerships with other publications and institutions
  • Manage correspondence and publication selections that relate to partnerships 

  Website and Analytics:

  • Manage website and newsletter design to increase readership and maintain industry design standards, redesigning as needed
  • Monitor website functionality and communicate with web developer about any changes needed to the website
  • Monitor web traffic and produce data-driven strategic memos with the aim of audience development

   

  Design:

  • Create any visual assets needed for advertisements, partnerships, podcasts, and website

  Finances:

  • Manage all incoming payments from partnerships or advertising
  • Manage all honoraria payments
  • Maintain ledger of incoming and outgoing funds

   

  Advertising:

  • Run all aspects of the Public Books advertising program, including building and maintaining the media kit, soliciting and implementing ads, compiling analytic reports, and processing invoices

   

  Podcast:

  • Coordinate with all podcast partners, consulting on logistical matters and providing feedback on episodes
  • Manage transcription and fact-checking for each episode
  • Create web pages for and publish each episode
  • Oversee promotion for each episode

   

  Perform additional duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 5 to 7 years of related experience
• Superior verbal and written communication and organizational skills
• Initiative, discretion, tact, and the ability to prioritize and work under pressure without supervision
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Experience with relational database applications and website software (e.g., Airtable)
• Experience with web content management systems, especially WordPress, basic HTML, Microsoft Office, Google G Suite

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD or MA preferred
• Prior experience in an academic environment and knowledge of University academic systems and procedures
• Experience with Adobe Photoshop, video and/or audio editing software, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) preferred

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.