Assistant Director of Editorial Strategies (Writer)

The assistant director of editorial strategies in the Office of Marketing and Communications will have an essential role in the University of Maryland’s storytelling enterprise.

This experienced writer will report and write original content with a high level of insight and sophistication—without sacrificing readability. This person must be able to identify promising leads and turn them into stories, including deftly translating research findings for short articles on the daily news site (Maryland Today) and developing long-form features for the award-winning Terp magazine. The individual must be versatile, creative and able to write in a variety of styles to targeted audiences—such as prospective students, faculty or alums—to inform, inspire and entertain.

This person will also help manage Terp, including planning and scheduling; developing fresh and compelling story ideas; and coordinating production with the creative team.

Finally, this person will join the rest of the Editorial Strategies team in a lively, fast-moving environment in writing for marketing collateral, proofreading and contributing to other projects to advance the university’s strategic communications goals.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, English or related field.
• Experience: Seven years of professional reporting, writing and editing experience.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Excellent interviewing, writing and copy-editing skills.
• Commitment to accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to juggle projects under deadline pressure and amid changing priorities.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships in a diverse work environment.
• Excellent organizational skills.

Preferences:

• Long-form narrative writing experience
• Line-editing experience
• Fluency translating science and research for general readers
• Experience writing social media content in a professional setting
• High level of familiarity with AP style
• Experience working in higher education