Staff Writer, Kitchen, NYT Wirecutter

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Job Description

About the Position

Wirecutter is seeking a staff writer to join the team that covers kitchen gear, small countertop appliances, and packaged foods.

As a kitchen team staff writer, you’ll be responsible for conducting research on and testing products to help maintain our team’s extensive catalog of kitchen product reviews. This can include everything from blenders to trash cans to canned tomatoes. You’ll also work collaboratively with other members of our team on testing and writing, as well as with other teams across our company to produce shorter form articles and off-platform content (like videos and newsletters) about the products we review.

The ideal candidate is a resourceful, creative, assiduous researcher with a talent for finding good sources and asking the right questions, the ability to break down complex (sometimes scientific) topics for our readers, and a passion for helping people choose the right thing to buy. You should understand how a person thinks about a kitchen purchase—no matter their living circumstances, household size, geographical location, ability, or budget.

Previous experience testing and reviewing products isn’t required, but valuable. Experience and/or a passion for cooking is a must, and experience shopping for kitchen gear and food products is helpful.

A successful person in this role will be comfortable collaborating with team members as well as with photo, operations, SEO, audience, and other teams, and should also thrive on working independently—researching, testing, writing, and responding to edits. This role reports to the supervising editor of the kitchen team and is based in New York City in Wirecutter’s Long Island City office.

Responsibilities

• Research, report, and write long form guides and short form posts on kitchen gear and food products; think creatively about sources, identify experts, and plan and conduct meaningful short- and long-term tests
• Request product samples and process their return
• Call experts and review academic journal articles and other scientific data; methodically scan user reviews and forums to find what truly matters to readers
• Collaborate with editors to conceive new content and move ideas from pitch to publish
• Collaborate with photo, video, and illustration departments to produce visuals to support guides and other content
• Attend trade shows and news events as needed to build contacts and expertise
• Work with our social and newsletter teams to develop off-platform content
• Work with our social and community teams to respond to reader feedback and questions
• Perform related work as assigned
  
  
  

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of professional writing experience
• Experience doing original reporting and research for features or how-to guides is preferred; experience covering products or services, especially involving hands-on or lab testing, is also valuable
  
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• A passion for and experience with cooking, especially at home
• Excellent communication and task management skills in a remote work environment; patience to work through multiple rounds of edits and balance multiple reporting projects and deadlines simultaneously
  
  
  

The annual base salary range for this role is between $71,000.00 to $82,000.00.

Please include your résumé/CV and a cover letter with your application. You can only upload one file in the “Résumé/CV” box, so combine and upload your résumé and cover letter as one file.

This is a union position as classified by the News Guild of New York.

Locations

Even with our office in New York City, Wirecutter remains a highly remote-friendly culture and is proud to employ incredible people across the country. Right now, we are eligible to hire in the following states: CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, ME, MA, MI, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, UT, VA, WA.

The New York Times is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce, one that reflects the varied global community we serve. Our journalism and the products we build in the service of that journalism greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which can only come from diversity of all types, across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

The New York Times Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. The New York Times Company will provide reasonable accommodations as required by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws. Individuals seeking an accommodation for the application or interview process should email reasonable.accommodations@nytimes.com. Emails sent for unrelated issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

The Company will further consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable "Fair Chance" laws.

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