Department/Group Overview:

The Sr. Photo Editor will join the Photo Department (25 people) of National Geographic Media. They will be one of 13 photo editors producing compelling content for our digital stories. The editors are divided between five desks: animals, science, environment, travel, and history/culture.

Job Summary:

The Sr. Photo Editor will work with photographers, writers, text editors, and designers to research and edit imagery that combines rich journalism with powerful long form visual storytelling for National Geographic. The position requires a sophisticated visual aesthetic, strong editing skills, the ability to plan complex photographic coverages (including discussing creative approaches, shoot lists, expectations, budget, and logistics with the photographer), the flexibility to work with ideas and photographers in the studio or on location, and an ability to work creatively and efficiently. This Editor will assign photographers, edit photographic coverages, research imagery, pitch story ideas, find photographic talent, produce stories, oversee story budgets, and manage the image workflow. This position will work on editorial priority stories, long form stories, as well as digital dailies. They will oversee/mentor Photo Editors, Associate Photo Editors, Residents and/or interns. This position will report to the visual desk lead (Assistant Managing Editor) and the Deputy Director of Photography.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• 10% Mentor: Mentor Photo Editors, Associate Photo Editors, Photo Residents and/or Photo Coordinators on assigned desk; Develop photographers including mentoring assigned NGS grantees; Scout and identify new talent (photographers, editors, etc)

• 65% Executive photographic production: Oversee production of complex photographic coverage for enterprise projects, ensuring projects are well managed, and that budgets and deadlines are met. This includes: research and pitch ideas, assign photographers, develop a story narrative, establish a coverage plan and budget, edit down 30K images (on average) per story to the most compelling and relevant 50 images; work with designers and producers to create a logical visual narrative. License stock photography content for short and long form features. Ensure caption information is gathered and disseminated; verify credit line; archive and transmit images; verify color correction; check image veracity when in question and make images available for broader use across platforms. Work across the Visuals department (video, mobile, photo, AR/VR) to create special interactive projects involving coding and interactive user experiences.

• 15% Provide production and field support to photographers, including securing visas, permits, releases, letters of introduction and specialized equipment as well as clearing them through company onboarding and compliance forms

• 10% Project planning: collaborate with mobile producers, video editors, text editors, writers, designers, caption writers, researchers, cartographers, pre-press team, podcast producers, and Channel producers

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• Minimum 5 years of experience with long form documentary visual storytelling; knowledge of photography business

• Highly refined taste in photography and an understanding of videography and mobile storytelling

• Understanding of the editorial process from pitch to completion

• Knowledge of Microsoft Office; Photoshop, Media Pro, Premiere, Filemaker, Excel, Photo Mechanic, Photo Supreme

• Ability to manage and communicate with many creative minds, personalities, and processes

• Ability to collaborate across departments (photo, video, mobile, podcasts, social, communications)

• Experience with photo research, licensing directly from photographers as well as from wire services

• Ability to plan and execute stories in a timely manner and meet expectations

• Ability to manage multiple stories at once

• Create budgets and monitor budgets for long form assignment photography.

• Experience managing deliverables and asset information

• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills

• Strong communication, problem solving, and interpersonal skills

• Self-motivated and resourceful, with the ability to work with minimal supervision and exercise independent judgement

• Experience managing and mentoring staff; ability to provide guidance and feedback to more junior staff and NGS grantees

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