Associate Editor (Buyer's Guide)

Hearst Autos is a division of Hearst Magazines and brings together engaging content, unrivaled data and insights, innovative consumer products, and comprehensive marketing solutions to serve automotive manufacturers, dealers, enthusiasts, and buyers. By combining the entire portfolio of Hearst brands, including Car and Driver and Road & Track, with the extended reach of In-Market partners, Hearst Autos reaches 163 million people every month as the nation’s most influential automotive media company.

As a division of Hearst Magazines, Car and Driver offers the best of both worlds: a nimble, fast-paced entrepreneurial environment coupled with the stability, career development opportunities, and perks of an established company. Car and Driver is seeking a Michigan-based writer for an associate editor position within its digital Buyer's Guide. The successful candidate will display a positive, collaborative attitude and possess a multitude of skills, including knowledge of the automotive industry and the ability to distill complicated technical information into simple terms. This is a junior-level position that brings with it the expectation that the new staff editor will learn and grow their skill set over time.

Your Impact

Car and Driver is seeking a Michigan-based writer for an associate editor position within its digital Buyer's Guide. The successful candidate will display a positive, collaborative attitude and possess a multitude of skills, including knowledge of the automotive industry and the ability to distill complicated technical information into simple terms. This is a junior-level position that brings with it the expectation that the new staff editor will learn and grow their skill set over time. This role is based in Ann Arbor, MI.

What you'll do:

Buyer’s Guide/Make-Model Page (MMP) Writing:

The associate editor's primary responsibility will be to research and write MMPs as required.
Writing duties will extend to Editor’s Choice, BG bookazine content, any other BG-related writing needs i.e., “Best” listicles, Consumer/EV/other section writing/editing.
Collaboration: communicating and coordinating efforts on a daily basis with News and Reviews teams.

MMP Maintenance:

Associate editor will assist BG managing editor with reviewing and maintaining ratings, rankings, the annual MMP page audit, and collaborate with the BG team on improving/resolving process and workflow issues.

Other C/D Organizational Support:

The associate editor will grow their skill set to the point where they can be available as time and workload permit to write vehicle reviews, news stories, and features. This includes attending vehicle launches, participating in comparison tests and other C/D organization-wide programs (i.e., 10Best, EV of The Year).

Who you are:

2-5 years experience preferably in journalism, automotive journalism, or technical writing. Prior experience in a consumer-facing retail environment, especially at a new- or used-car dealership, is a plus.Solid automotive technical knowledge base: Understands basic automotive technical information and jargon and can translate that into plain English for the average in-market car shopper.
Audience: The editor must quickly cultivate an understanding of the BG audience—non-enthusiasts who are searching for new-car buying information.
Strong writing skills: The ability to consistently produce competent, consumer-oriented, Make-Model Page (MMP) stories for Buyer's Guide (BG). These pieces must be consistently well-crafted, capture the Car and Driver voice (Intelligence, Independence, Irreverence) and point of view, incorporate an understanding of our audience, and require only a modest amount of line editing.
Willingness to learn and work in our proprietary software interfaces including two different content-management systems, an interactive database of specs and pricing, Chrome CarBook Pro, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Suite. FYI: Hearst and Car and Driver work in MacOS.
Is collaborative, enjoys working with fellow car nuts, is pro-active, and energized to continuously learn and improve BG work product and processes.
Flexible, respects deadlines, will grow their skill set over time to take on a multiplicity of tasks for the wider editorial organization including writing vehicle reviews and news pieces in addition to MMPs.

The base salary for this role is $60,000-$67,000. The actual base pay offered is dependent upon many factors, such as transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.