Managing Editor

Editor/writer job: “We’re hiring our first Managing Editor. You’ll work directly with the Editor-in-Chief to edit and shepherd pieces from commission to publication. This will include commissioning pieces and managing contributors, as well as editing and ensuring every piece meets the magazine’s standards for rigour, clarity, and narrative force.

This role is a fit for someone who is a sharp editor and curious about many different issues in development. You must care about the substance, but also style; pieces should be rigorous but readable. A good In Development piece should have both digressions on power calculations and jokes. As an editor, this requires a careful balance; you likely won’t be an expert on every field you cover, so you must be comfortable learning on the job and interacting with subject-matter experts. You will have significant autonomy – you will be commissioning and editing with a high degree of independence – and we expect you to have ownership over your work.

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Title: Managing Editor
Reports to: Editor-in-Chief
Status: Full-time
Location: Fully remote (worldwide). You’ll need 1–2 hours of daily overlap with UK working hours (11 AM – 7 PM UK); the rest of your schedule is flexible.
Salary: Up to $100,000 USD (or local currency equivalent); dependent on experience
Benefits: Health insurance, 401(k) or equivalent, 28 days of vacation per year
Work authorization: Must have the right to work in your country of residence — visa sponsorship not available

Application closes June 15, 2026

In Development is a new magazine dedicated to exploring how progress happens — or doesn’t happen — in the developing world. We cover global health, development, and the institutions that shape life in lower-income countries.

We publish original articles from researchers, policymakers, and journalists. We publish articles that are too in depth for The Guardian, but vastly more fun than anything you can find in the American Economic Review. As aid budgets are slashed, we think it is more important than ever to have a robust debate on what works – and what doesn’t. We launched in April 2026 and publish weekly.

We’re hiring our first Managing Editor. You’ll work directly with the Editor-in-Chief to edit and shepherd pieces from commission to publication. This will include commissioning pieces and managing contributors, as well as editing and ensuring every piece meets the magazine’s standards for rigour, clarity, and narrative force.

This role is a fit for someone who is a sharp editor and curious about many different issues in development. You must care about the substance, but also style; pieces should be rigorous but readable. A good In Development piece should have both digressions on power calculations and jokes. As an editor, this requires a careful balance; you likely won’t be an expert on every field you cover, so you must be comfortable learning on the job and interacting with subject-matter experts. You will have significant autonomy – you will be commissioning and editing with a high degree of independence – and we expect you to have ownership over your work.

Responsibilities

• Commission and edit longform pieces
  • This will include everything from developmental edits to line editing. You will have full autonomy to commission pieces you think are a good fit for In Development and will be the lead editor on those pieces
  • You may also support writers with less experience in magazine-style journalism.
• Manage the editorial calendar and keep weekly publication on track
• Support operations
  • This may include managing fact-checking and copy-editing, consulting with our designer, supporting social media strategy and (rarely) working with our bookkeeping contractor

What we’re looking for

This role has two distinct categories of requirements.

Foundational qualities — what we need you to bring from day one:

• Demonstrable writing and editing ability. Note that this will be tested in the work test; we do not require you to have professional experience in editing.
• Substantive familiarity with development economics, global health and related fields. A PhD is not a requirement, but you must be able to evaluate the quality of an argument. 
• Comfort working with data and thinking about quantitative methods
• Sound independent judgment — you know when to act and when to confer with the Editor in Chief
• Comfort working with significant autonomy. You will be the second full-time staff member, and will be expected to take on a management role with contractors.
• Ability and willingness to learn many different roles on the fly

Nice to have:

• Experience living in or working in a developing country
• Experience editing academics writing for a general audience
• Existing network in development, policy, or research communities
• Familiarity with social media promotion strategies
• Experience of commissioning and integrating infographics and data visualisation into communications products
• Involvement in building and growing a project, team or venture

We think that there are candidates from a variety of backgrounds that would be good for this role; we do not have particular education or field requirements. We are particularly keen to see candidates based in LMICs.

We welcome applications from candidates anywhere in the world who have the right to work in their country of residence. Note we cannot sponsor visas for this role.

Key tasks:

• Editing and production: structural and line editing of commissioned pieces
• Commissioning and pitch evaluation: developing story ideas, working up pitches with contributors, reading unsolicited submissions
• Contributor management: check-ins with contributing editors and external writers, managing timelines, keeping the calendar
• Promotion and networking: conferences as desired (this role has a travel budget), designing and implementing social media strategy, tracking impact

To apply

Please fill out this Google form [click apply] by June 15, 2026. Your application should reflect your own thinking and writing. AI tools can be useful for brainstorming or proofreading, but answers that read as AI-generated will not advance. If you used AI in any form, please briefly note where and how.

Selected candidates will be invited to complete a work test, followed by 1-2 rounds of interviews.

We welcome applications from candidates anywhere in the world who have the right to work in their country of residence.