Editor (Associate Editor, Editor, or Senior Editor)

Independent Feature Project Inc; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 85,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO + holidays

Health, dental, and vision coverage

Dependent care support

Parental leave – 3 months

5% annual retirement contribution

Job summary

Institute for Progress (IFP) seeks an Editor (Associate, Editor, or Senior) in Washington, DC. The role partners with policy experts to turn drafts into compelling pieces, coaches writers, and innovates editorial systems.

Level and salary vary with experience, with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and a passion for public policy and AI-enabled storytelling. Senior Editor candidates should demonstrate strong editing of technical writing, workflow design with AI, and sound judgment for

Qualifications

• Must be detail-oriented and committed to high-quality work.
• You read widely across genres and mediums.
• Excellent writing and editing skills with ability to meet tight deadlines.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with self-starter attitude and high agency.
• Interest in building processes and comfort with disagreement and decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Editing a wide range of materials (op-eds, memos, white papers, etc.).
• Provide iterative feedback at all writing stages and coach writers to improve voice and clarity.
• Collaborate with policy experts to shape pieces for DC audiences.
• Help develop workflow tools and improve processes for the team.
• Ensure consistency and quality across all IFP materials.
• Coordinate with external contractors for art and printed materials.

Skills

Detail-oriented

Excellent writing/editing

Entrepreneurial mindset

Coach junior writers

AI/LLM awareness

Public policy familiarity

Google Docs familiarity

Tools

Datawrapper

WordPress

Google Docs

LLMs

Job description

Editor (Associate Editor, Editor, or Senior Editor)

Location: Washington, D.C.

Deadline: October 30, AOE for priority consideration. After that, applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

Reward: $5,000 for any referral that results in a hire

About IFP

The Institute for Progress (IFP) is a non-partisan think tank focused on innovation policy. Our organization works to accelerate and shape the direction of scientific, technological, and industrial progress. IFP works with policymakers across the political spectrum in Washington, D.C. to make it easier to build the future in the United States. You can read more about our vision and mission in our founding essay written by co-founders Alec Stapp and Caleb Watney.

The Role

We’re open to hiring at a range of leveled positions: Associate Editor, Editor, or Senior Editor. Level and salary vary with skills and experience. At any level, we’re seeking a curious, entrepreneurial, and opinionated lover of writing. You may be an experienced editor, but you may also be an excellent fit for this role without formal editorial experience.

You’ll partner with our policy experts to turn their drafts into pieces that change minds across DC. You’ll coach both new and experienced writers to become better communicators. You’ll also innovate on our systems to help the team consistently ship great products.

A Senior Editor candidate has most of the following traits. An Editor has several of these traits:

• Has substantial experience editing technical writing (scientific and/or legal).
• Can give examples of how they’ve leveled up writers they’ve worked with over time.
• Good judgment about building workflow tools with AI.
• Strong media intuition about the right outlet for a piece, given its audience and goals.

At any level, this is a hard role: you’ll work with people who know a lot more about their issue areas than you, and you’ll have to push back when their writing doesn’t achieve its goals. If that sounds fun, this role is for you. You will report to our Editorial Director, Leah Sargeant.

The Specifics

Qualifications

• You are extremely detail-oriented and committed to producing high-quality work. You care a lot about getting to the right answer.
• You read a lot, across a wide range of genres and mediums.
• You have excellent writing and editing skills and the ability to work under tight deadlines.
• You have an entrepreneurial mindset and a self-starter attitude. People around you call you “high-agency” or “energetic.”
• You’re interested in building processes that help this team create consistently great products.
• You don’t mind asking dumb questions. You have a sense of humor.
• You are comfortable having conversations through disagreement, and you know when to make a decision. You can disagree and commit gracefully.
• Ideally, you have a familiarity with a range of policy topics and an interest in continuous learning. A professional background in public policy is not required, but a basic literacy in American public policy is. Familiarity with AI or biotech policy is a plus.
• You’re creative about argumentation. You can see both sides of an argument; really, you can see many sides. You’re willing to experiment and to play with language.
• We are looking for someone who cares about creating work for public consumption. If you have experience creating or producing public-facing work, we will consider that a plus. You should be comfortable working in (or ready to become comfortable with) Google Docs, Datawrapper WordPress, and LLMs.
• This is a full-time role in Washington D.C. with a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package.

Responsibilities (in rank order)

1. Editing(roughly 70% of the role)

• Edit a wide range of work: op-eds, white papers, slide decks, policy memos, Substacks, etc.
• Provide feedback at every stage of writing: developmental edits for structure, sentence level edits, copy-editing.
• Coach junior writers across their time at IFP to both develop their own voice and to comfortably write in IFP’s.
• Ensure consistency and quality across all IFP written materials.
• Provide opinionated edits for various IFP materials on tight deadlines.
• Work with external contractors and artists to develop key art and printed materials.

2. Process Improvement (20%)

• Work with vertical team leads, editorial, executive, and policy development teams to build better processes for writers.
• Experiment with that process to help us improve our efficiency and the quality of our output as IFP grows substantially.
• Take initiative on new projects aligned with team priorities.
• Contribute to research and writing efforts as needed.
• Assist with internal design projects or partnerships with external organizations.

Salary and Benefits

• IFP offers a highly competitive compensation package determined by a variety of factors when formulating an offer, including but not limited to: roles and responsibilities, work experience, education/training, skills, and expertise.
• We expect the salary for this role at the Associate Editor role to be at least $85,000 with the potential for more based on experience.
• The salary for an Editor begins at $110,000.
• The salary for a Senior Editor begins at $150,000.
• Our benefits package for full-time employees includes:
  • Unlimited PTO + paid holidays
  • Generous health, dental, and vision coverage for you and dependents
  • Dependent care support
  • 3 months of fully paid parental leave
  • A 5% annual employer retirement contribution

Logistics

• This is a full-time position based in Washington, D.C.
• This role sits within IFP’s Editorial and Design team and reports to the Editorial Director.
• We’d like our hire to start as soon as possible.

Applying

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with a deadline on Friday, October 30th for priority consideration.