Executive Editor of the Texas National Security Review

The Texas National Security Review (TNSR, https://tnsr.org) is seeking a motivated, detail-oriented, and energetic executive editor. We are looking for candidates eager to lead what has become one of the world’s premier journals on international security. This is a full-time role.

This is not a remote position. We are on a hybrid schedule of three days a week in the War on the Rocks office (T, W, Th) in Washington, DC. We will therefore only consider candidates who live in the Washington metro area or who are willing to relocate there. This role also requires travel to major conferences relevant to the journal's mission.

About the Publication

TNSR was born out of the idea that a scholarly journal can be so much more than those of us concerned with national security and international affairs are accustomed to reading, producing, and writing for. TNSR is produced by War on the Rocks in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin. War on the Rocks is the flagship publication of Metamorphic Media, a D.C.-based media company.

TNSR is an influential and widely read print and online journal dedicated to publishing accessible, rigorous, peer-reviewed scholarship relevant to international and national security policy from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, as well as insightful articles from leading policy professionals and national security practitioners. At its best, it puts scholars and practitioners/policymakers into conversation with each other on the biggest questions and most pressing challenges.

The Position

The executive editor is responsible for the journal's editorial process, management, and for representing the journal as its full-time public face.

The duties are as follows:

• Soliciting excellent manuscripts from both emerging and top scholars and key policymakers, and making timely and constructive decisions on suitability and peer review
• Supervising TNSR's managing editor and production editor, as well as the journal's part-time associate editors, who play a key role in shepherding manuscripts through the editorial process
• Ensuring and improving TNSR’s “best in field” reputation for constructive and timely peer review and time from submission to publication
• Serving as an intellectual spokesperson and evangelizer for TNSR,
• Creating day-to-day editorial, production, communication, and management processes to maintain and build upon TNSR’s intellectual vision and reputation for excellence
• Tracking submissions, as well as demographic data, and producing regular data-informed reports on performance

This job requires intellectual curiosity as well as stellar management and communication skills. The ideal candidate will be curious to identify and explore the world’s biggest questions, enjoy working with the world’s best scholars and practitioners, be committed to building TNSR’s brand and audience, and have a desire to challenge the stale customs of academic publishing. 

The executive editor reports to Ryan Evans, the publisher of TNSR and founder of War on the Rocks. The executive editor, as a part of the War on the Rocks/Metamorphic team, will also play an important coordinating with the UT Austin-based teams at the Clements and Strauss Centers, in addition to working closely with Prof. Sheena Greitens of UT Austin, who is now serving as the journal's new editor-in-chief. In that part-time capacity, she is working to take TNSR to the next level through a number of important initiatives.

A cover letter is required, along with your CV. In your cover letter, please include an amusing story about yourself. If the job website you see this on does not allow you to submit a cover letter, apply at this website (https://apply.workable.com/war-on-the-rocks/j/20081CD0E7/ ) instead. Before applying, please read "Who We Are, What We Do, and Why You Should Care," from our first issue.

Metamorphic Media is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any classification protected by federal, state, or local law.

Requirements

• Three years of editorial experience. This does not mean you need to have been employed as an editor, but you should be able to demonstrate that a past position has involved serious and sustained wordsmithing
• Strong background in history, international relations, political science, security studies, and/or strategic studies. This must include familiarity with the relevant academic literature
• A Ph.D. in one of these fields, or a closely related one
• Exceptional and obsessive attention to detail
• Cross-disciplinary credentials and familiarity with historical and ongoing strategic debates in the United States
• Exceptional and elegant written English
• Patience and rigor
• Ability to work collegially with others and flexibly as part of a small team
• Right to work in the United States

Bonus

• A record of practitioner experience — in civilian government service, as a Congressional staff member, as a policymaker, in the armed services, or a combination of these
• Experience managing non-academic projects, processes, and people

Benefits

• Fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums
• Competitive salary
• Annual bonuses