Features Director, Allure

Allure is the beauty expert, an insiders’ guide to a woman’s total image, with a print audience of 5.3 million and an average monthly online audience of 13 million. Allure is the world’s most trusted voice in beauty. With vibrant imagery, rigorous reporting, and powerful storytelling, Allure is a vital guide to the trends, people, innovations, procedures, and products that matter most in makeup, skin, hair, and wellness. Allure celebrates inclusivity and drives the cultural conversation around representation, helping to expand the way society sees beauty—and the way we see ourselves.

Job Description

Location:
New York, NY

The Features Director at Allure is responsible for conceiving, assigning, and editing ambitious journalism across beauty, health, wellness, plastic surgery, aesthetics, and culture. This editor will have extensive reporting and editing experience, impeccable journalistic judgment, and a strong instinct for stories driven by rigorous reporting, argument, analysis, distinctive voice, and compelling storytelling. They will be equally comfortable editing nuanced health and medical reporting and provocative cultural commentary.

The ideal candidate is as adept at shaping a service feature or long-form investigation as they are developing a timely, personal essay or reported cultural analysis. They will bring bold ideas and a sharp editorial perspective to Allure , helping the brand expand its influence, reach new audiences, and produce journalism that enforce Allure’s authority in both beauty and health science, and culture.

This is a hands-on role requiring both exceptional line-editing skills and big-picture strategic thinking. The Features Director will independently guide stories from conception through publication, working closely with staff editors, writers, and a rich network of freelance contributors. They will help ensure that Allure is telling the right stories, with the right framing and voice, at the right moment—and finding inventive ways to bring that journalism to audiences across platforms. This is a Guild Position.

This position reports to the Executive Editor.

Responsibilities:

- Collaborate with Allure 's Editor in Chief, Executive Editor, and Content Director to develop and execute distinctive, high-impact editorial stories and special projects.
- Develop and maintain a robust editorial calendar that balances major long-lead projects with strong service content and timely, conversation-driving journalism.
- Conceive, assign, and edit a broad range of original journalism, including: In-depth health and aesthetics reporting that requires navigating medical research, evaluating expert perspectives, and translating complex scientific information into accurate, accessible, engaging journalism.
- Timely second- and third-day stories that offer fresh analysis, cultural criticism, reported reaction, or a compelling larger argument.
- Personal essays, opinion pieces, and first-person narratives with strong voices and clear editorial perspectives.
- Celebrity interviews and profiles that reflect Allure 's distinctive editorial perspective.
- Ambitious long-form features and investigations that uncover new information, challenge conventional wisdom, and advance important conversations.

- Serve as both a top editor and hands-on story editor, providing rigorous structural and line editing and guiding writers through complex reporting, argument development, and narrative construction.
- Independently manage stories from pitch through publication, exercising sound editorial judgment, particularly on sensitive or nuanced subjects.
- Mentor more junior staff editors and writers to help them strengthen pitches, develop fresh angles, sharpen arguments, and elevate storytelling.
- Cultivate and manage a diverse roster of talented freelance writers, including journalists, critics, essayists, and distinctive new voices.
- Collaborate with creative, video, social, and audience development teams to create compelling, innovative presentations of Allure 's journalism across platforms.
- Use audience insights and performance data to inform editorial strategy while maintaining Allure 's commitment to authoritative and impactful journalism.
- Appear on camera in content for social media via UGC, and as needed in other editor-led video, and branded content campaigns
- Represent Allure at relevant industry events and contribute to cross-platform editorial initiatives as needed.
- Additional duties as required, or as assigned by manager

Skills and Qualifications:

- Minimum 10 years of experience in journalism, with substantial experience assigning and editing sophisticated reported features, essays, cultural criticism, and long-form narratives.
- Demonstrated experience editing health, medical, science, or aesthetics reporting, with the ability to critically assess scientific claims, identify gaps in reporting, and ensure accuracy without sacrificing compelling storytelling.
- Exceptional editorial judgment, journalistic integrity, and a demonstrated ability to independently manage complex or sensitive stories.
- A track record of developing original journalism that generates conversation, influences cultural discourse, and distinguishes a publication from its competitors.
- A keen interest in beauty, health, wellness, plastic surgery, and aesthetic medicine, and an understanding of how these subjects intersect with culture, politics, identity, science, and society.
- Outstanding structural and line-editing skills, including the ability to sharpen an argument, shape a narrative, strengthen reporting, and preserve and elevate a writer's distinctive voice.
- A strong instinct for finding the larger cultural significance in a news event, emerging trend, or individual experience.
- A proven ability to work with both established and emerging writers and develop their ideas into compelling journalism.
- Experience managing multiple editorial projects simultaneously, balancing timely stories with complex long-lead work.
- A strong network of freelance writers and an enthusiasm for discovering new talent.
- An understanding of how ambitious journalism can succeed across digital, social, video, and other platforms.
- Familiarity with audience analytics and SEO best practices, coupled with an understanding of the value of distinctive editorial content.
- A collaborative, creative approach and the confidence to bring bold, unexpected ideas to the editorial conversation.

The expected base salary range for this position is from $110,000 - $140,000. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including but not limited to relevant skills, training, experience, and education.

What happens next?

If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply below, and we will review your application as soon as possible. You can update your resume or upload a cover letter at any time by accessing your candidate profile.

Condé Nast is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, familial status and other legally protected characteristics.