Job Description

America’s Test Kitchen is seeking a Managing Editor to join our book team. This is a unique opportunity to work with a group of passionate cooks, editors, and designers while managing workflow that spans a range of content creation: editorial, design, recipe development, and photography. You will oversee the flow of work across a variety of cookbook titles from editorial inception to finished books, centralize information, set milestones, help manage resources, and maintain schedules. You will support the editors in a variety of tasks and work closely with sales, marketing, photo, and manufacturing by coordinating communication and establishing best practices. Creative problem solving, excellent communication and organization, adaptability to different working styles, and eagerness to dive deep are key attributes for this role.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Overall Book Project Management

Guide long-range planning, working with the Editorial Director, by creating timelines for new projects that account for each book’s unique needs.

• Accurately forecast the stages of the development process including editorial, recipe development, design, and photography.
• Establish milestones and clarify deliverables.

Oversee existing schedules to keep projects running smoothly, both day-to-day and over the publishing year, utilizing tools such as stand-up meetings and check-ins with editors, designers, and production.

• Maintain book schedules, surfacing relevant info for team members, and monitor schedules against in-progress work to identify areas where action is needed.
• Support editors in managing their projects; take the lead in problem solving and proactively bringing solutions.
• Coordinate recipe development with production schedule to ensure timely delivery of manuscripts.

Workflow and Resourcing

Serve as the central point person for all moving parts of projects. Establish and enforce best practices for optimum workflow and communication (inter- and cross-team). Anticipate overlaps and spot and address issues as early as possible.

• Set and communicate priorities across team. Direct and motivate teams to meet deadlines.
• Work with the Editorial Director to match projects and resources to ensure success. Suggest ways to reallocate resources when needed.
• Hire and manage freelance copyeditors, proofreaders, and indexers.
• Conduct periodic reviews of existing workflows and suggest ways to improve them.

Editorial Support

• Support editorial by checking copyedit and proofs and sending files for indexing.
• Oversee editorial for select annual publications and custom publications, such as special markets editions.
• Oversee creation and timely approval of front matters for all titles.
• Help to manage book photo programs by creating photo collections and preparing documents for photo meetings.

Cross-Department Communication

• Act as point-of-contact for sales, publicity, and marketing to ensure timely delivery of TI sheets, launch/sales conference needs, and press releases.
• Coordinate communication with manufacturing to establish files-to-production dates, printer quotes, page counts, and final print quantities. Manage spec changes and oversee reprint updates.
• Coordinate photography planning to guarantee photos are scheduled within timeline and photo reviews happen to facilitate timely image processing.

Systems

• Evaluate existing tracking systems and suggest ways to make them more efficient, including recommending whether a new approach or technology is needed.

KEY SKILLS

Must be able to thrive amid shifting and sometimes competing priorities, react thoughtfully and efficiently to new information, and work comfortably when complete information isn’t available.

Strong leadership qualities especially when guiding problem-solving discussions and finding resolutions that consider the needs of multiple individuals.

A clear grasp of the editorial side of book publishing or related field and an eagerness to learn the specific needs of each stage of our content-creation process.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Three to five years of experience in managing the production of complex editorial projects; cookbook experience preferred
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong editorial abilities and judgment; some copyediting and proofreading experience preferred
• Top-notch organizational skills
• Ability to work successfully independently as well as part of a team
• Proficiency with publishing technology tools (experience with Google Suite, InDesign, InCopy, K4 desirable)

This position is located in our Boston, MA office in the Seaport district. It is the expectation that the person in this role will work a hybrid schedule of 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday) in the office and 2 days per week remotely.

Salary Range: $63,500-$75,000

The range provided is based on what we reasonably expect to pay for this job as of the time of posting. The actual salary offered will be determined based on multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, geographical location, and other job-related factors permitted by law.

About America’s Test Kitchen:

The mission of America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) is to empower and inspire confidence, community, and creativity in the kitchen. Founded in 1992, the company is the leading multimedia cooking resource serving millions of fans with TV shows (America’s Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation), award-winning magazine (Cook’s Illustrated) and limited-edition newsstand issues, cookbooks, podcasts, FAST channels, short-form video series, and the ATK Essential Membership for digital content. Based in a state-of-the-art 15,000-square-foot test kitchen in Boston’s Seaport District, ATK has earned the trust of home cooks and culinary experts alike thanks to its one-of-a-kind processes and best-in-class techniques. Fifty full-time (admittedly very meticulous) test cooks, editors, and product testers spend their days tweaking every variable to find the very best recipes, equipment, ingredients, and techniques. Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.

Why America’s Test Kitchen:

We're passionate about cooking, and about creating the best place to work. We're small enough for your ideas to make a big impact, and large enough to offer you opportunities to grow professionally at any stage of your career. We want you to take risks and make mistakes — that's how innovation happens in our test kitchen, in our offices, and in life.

We at America’s Test Kitchen believe food media can be a powerful force for social change. We are passionate about building an inclusive workforce that represents many different cultures, backgrounds, abilities, identities, and perspectives.

We welcome your application.

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