Demo

Central Desk Editor

POLITICO
Arlington, VA Full Time
POSTED ON 1/12/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 3/16/2026
POLITICO is seeking a sharp and energetic editor to join our Central Editing Desk. Are you an editor with a passion for mentoring early-career colleagues? You may be a great fit for this role. Created only a few months ago, Central Editing is a versatile desk providing editing support across all our teams and platforms. You will add immediate impact by bringing experience to the desk while helping develop junior colleagues as we build a team that adds strong and flexible editing capacity to the newsroom.

The Central Editing Desk is staffed 7 days per week, 5:30 a.m. to midnight on weekdays. This editor will likely work afternoon and evening hours, when editing demand is highest, and potentially one weekend day.

What You’ll Do

  • Edit a wide range of content for POLITICO’s consumer and Pro subscriber audiences, including breaking news stories, liveblogs, quick-turn enterprise pieces, daily newsletters and long-form deep dives across all our digital platforms, applying consistent high standards while understanding the needs of each platform.
  • Collaborate daily with reporters, editors and multimedia teams to ensure smooth and speedy publishing.
  • Optimize content for digital platforms and search, review choice of photos and other multimedia, and assist in writing and reviewing headlines, decks and photo captions.
  • Work with the audience team to implement audience strategy best practices.
  • Act as a backup editor supporting any of our teams across the newsroom.
  • Help train new Central Desk editors and mentor junior editors.

What You’ll Need

  • 3 years of relevant editing experience.
  • Rigorous commitment to fair-minded, nonpartisan journalism.
  • Strong organization and communication skills and ability to quickly adapt to changing priorities and juggle multiple tasks in a fast-paced newsroom.
  • Experience in digital publishing and content management systems.
  • Working knowledge of AP Style.

This role is based in our Arlington, Virginia, headquarters. To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter.

We value our people. Click here for more on what we offer and what it’s like to work for POLITICO.

About Us.

POLITICO illuminates the forces shaping global power. Since 2007, we have delivered intelligence that anticipates tomorrow's headlines, not reports on yesterday's news. As politics has increasingly become the defining force of our era, our work has never been more vital.

Cabinet secretaries and Ministers start their mornings with our analysis. CEOs shape strategy around our reporting. Advocacy leaders rely on our insights to move policy. We deliver the straightforward facts and clear-eyed analysis they need to navigate the most complex political landscape of our lifetimes.

Our 1,100 publishing professionals across the world's key democratic capitals—Washington, Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin, Sacramento, and New York—form the world's premier politics and policy newsroom. We tell the story of how power really works by explaining who wields it and how they plan to exercise it, connecting dots others miss and delivering scoops from sources others don't even know exist.

Innovation has always been a core tenet of our story. At launch, we bet that depth would trump scale, that talent would trump traffic, and that politics would become central to modern life. In 2011, we made another bet and launched POLITICO Pro to help decision-makers understand the business of government, transforming both how they shape government action and the business of journalism itself.

These bets have made POLITICO the most successful digital news startup of its generation and the indispensable resource for leaders who shape the future. Today, we are a rarity in media: a growing, profitable, and sustainable news organization.

POLITICO is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, a family-owned transatlantic media company headquartered in Berlin and New York. Axel Springer is dedicated to shaping the future of journalism in the free world, believing that a free and informed society is essential to democracy. Learn more about Axel Springer.

Salary.com Estimation for Central Desk Editor in Arlington, VA
$72,901 to $93,575
If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Central Desk Editor?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Central Desk Editor career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$69,307 - $89,834
Income Estimation: 
$88,467 - $114,456
Income Estimation: 
$65,767 - $91,452
Income Estimation: 
$52,572 - $69,468
Income Estimation: 
$102,738 - $142,837
Income Estimation: 
$60,028 - $80,198
Income Estimation: 
$88,467 - $114,456
Income Estimation: 
$65,767 - $91,452
Income Estimation: 
$57,761 - $72,087
Income Estimation: 
$69,307 - $89,834
Income Estimation: 
$60,028 - $80,198
Income Estimation: 
$65,767 - $91,452
Income Estimation: 
$102,738 - $142,837
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Job openings at POLITICO

  • POLITICO Arlington, VA
  • POLITICO is in a transformational moment. We are a global newsroom, growing rapidly and focused on driving impact across politics, policy, and power. We ar... more
  • 5 Days Ago

  • POLITICO Arlington, VA
  • POLITICO’s mission from the very beginning was to win the audience. We dedicate ourselves to providing accurate, non-partisan, impactful information to the... more
  • 6 Days Ago

  • POLITICO Arlington, VA
  • POLITICO is seeking a Playbook Editor to help guide the next chapter of Washington’s most influential political newsletter. The Playbook Editor will work i... more
  • 6 Days Ago

  • POLITICO California, CA
  • Los Angeles Influence: How Hollywood and entertainment are shaping politics POLITICO is looking for an experienced and well-sourced reporter in Los Angeles... more
  • 11 Days Ago


Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Central Desk Editor jobs in the Arlington, VA area that may be a better fit.

  • thenewyorktimes Washington, DC
  • The mission of The New York Times is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. That means independent journalism is at the heart of all we do... more
  • 13 Days Ago

  • NPR and Careers Washington, DC
  • OVERVIEW A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundre... more
  • 24 Days Ago

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!