Staff Editor

Location: District of Columbia, Washington
Job Category: Other
Job ID: 72431
Employment Type: Full time
Salary: per year
Posted: 05.12.2025

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Occupations:

Job Description:

The Position

The Niskanen Center is seeking an experienced editor to manage our growing content pipeline. This role requires a keen editorial eye, strong political instincts, and the ability to translate complex and technical policy insights into clear, compelling content for non-expert audiences, including legislative staffers, civil servants, and journalists.

We are looking for an editor familiar with and highly committed to our core policy vision, which includes a strong defense of liberal democracy, support for a well-functioning government, a dynamic private sector that challenges entrenched interests, and robust risk insurance policies such as cash benefits for families and unemployment insurance. The editor should also be willing and able to toggle between high-level feedback and line edits. Ideally, this individual could also hold writing seminars and coach new staff, interns, and others who wish to improve their writing.

Job Requirements:

Key Responsibilities:

• Editorial Oversight: Edit a range of materials, including white papers, policy briefs, regulatory comments, legislative testimony, and website content.
• Structural Editing: Provide high-level feedback on drafts, ensuring clarity of argument, logical flow, audience targeting, and alignment with the organization’s policy vision.
• Line Editing & Copy Editing: Refine sentence structure, maintain a balance between authorial voice and organizational tone, and ensure grammatical accuracy, proper citations, and consistency in formatting.
• Collaboration & Coaching: Work closely with policy analysts and other authors to provide constructive feedback that strengthens both their work and their writing skills.
• Communications & Branding Support: Partner with the communications team to manage workflow, discuss content strategy, track emerging trends, and refine the organization’s messaging.
• Style & Quality Control: Maintain and update the Niskanen Center’s style guide, ensuring editorial consistency across all publications.
• Project & Workflow Management: Use online project management tools to track editing tasks, communicate with colleagues, and meet deadlines efficiently.

Minimum skills and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications, or related field.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and Google Suite.
• Strong attention to detail and a commitment to producing error-free work
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team

Preferred skills and experience: 

• Deep familiarity with and commitment to the Niskanen Center’s worldview. This includes a strong defense of liberal democracy, support for a well-functioning government, a dynamic private sector that challenges entrenched interests, and robust risk insurance policies such as cash benefits for families and unemployment insurance.
• At least five years of professional writing experience, ideally in journalism, with a minimum of three years of editing experience.
• A strong understanding of American politics and public policy with the ability to quickly grasp new policy areas.
• A sharp editorial instinct—capable of identifying sensitive or provocative claims that require careful framing.
• Agility and efficiency, with the ability to handle multiple projects, meet tight deadlines, and provide high-quality, short-turnaround edits when needed.
• Excellent verbal communication skills, with the ability to provide empathetic and constructive editorial feedback.
• Comfort integrating new technologies, including AI-powered editing tools, into the workflow.