Associate Editor

Inkitt
San Francisco, CA
On-site

Who this role is best for

A natural match if you have editorial or publishing experience and a deep understanding of romance fiction.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 1-3 years in editorial or publishing and a strong grasp of romance tropes and subgenres
    — “You love romance and read widely in it. You know the tropes, heat levels and subgenres”
  • Individuals who enjoy reimagining stories and have a creative mindset for reinvention
    — “You’re excited to use AI as a creative tool, with the taste to judge what it produces and make it better”
  • People who can synthesize reader feedback and data into actionable editorial strategies
    — “You’re comfortable with developing creative theories from quantitative data”

Things to consider

  • The role requires a full-time on-site commitment in San Francisco for five days a week
    — “You can work on-site in San Francisco 5 days a week”
  • No explicit seniority level is defined, but the role demands strong editorial judgment and ownership early on
    — “You’re smart, curious and hungry. You learn fast, take ownership, and want real responsibility early”

How to stand out

  • Emphasize your experience with rewriting stories and improving reader engagement in your resume
    — “reimagine them: the characters, the stakes, the pacing, the plot, the emotional payoff”
  • Highlight your ability to interpret reader feedback and data to inform editorial decisions
    — “using the manuscript, reader feedback and engagement data”
  • Demonstrate your collaborative mindset with authors and editors in your interview responses
    — “Build relationships with authors, freelance editors, marketing and the wider content team”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • reimagining books into bestsellers
  • building strong relationships with authors and content team
Typical background
1-3 years in editorial or publishingMFA or similar

Skills & requirements

Required

Editorial InstinctsCreative ThinkingQuantitative Data AnalysisCollaboration With AuthorsAI Tool Usage

Preferred

Experience With Serialized Or Web FictionGiving Developmental Feedback To WritersFiction, Playwriting, Or Screenwriting Experience

Stack & domain

Editorial InstinctsCreative ThinkingQuantitative Data AnalysisCollaborationAI Tool UsagePublishingAIEntertainment

About the role

Original posting from Inkitt via Lever

Inkitt is building the Operating System for Storytellers, standing at the forefront of technology and entertainment.

Leveraging AI and predictive algorithms, Inkitt discovers unknown stories and turns them into blockbuster hits, producing a new $1M ebook every 7 days and selling directly to consumers through its Inkitt Galatea app. Bestsellers are then translated onto the screen through Inkitt CandyJar, the #1 US-based microdrama platform with billions of episodes streamed to date, and Inkitt Ironblood, the world's first streaming app for superhero, sci-fi and action stories.

Inkitt has become the 11th most bestseller-generating publisher in the world, boasting a 40x higher hit-rate than traditional publishers.

Backed by some of the top VC’s such as: Khosla, Kleiner Perkins, and NEA Ventures, our recent expansion into Ironblood, the first AI Native streaming platform for action and adventure, is only the beginning of our journey to becoming the next-gen entertainment powerhouse.

The Role:

We’re building the best romance catalogue in the world, and we’re assembling a small team of creative people to do it. As an Associate Editor, you’ll take books that readers almost love and reimagine them: the characters, the stakes, the pacing, the plot, the emotional payoff. You’ll study how readers respond, work out what’s holding a story back, and rebuild it into something that hits far harder. Then you’ll put your version in front of real readers and see if you were right.

What You'll Do::

  • Read deeply and diagnose. Find where and why a story loses readers, using the manuscript, reader feedback and engagement data.
  • Write clear, bold editorial plans for major rewrites: new hooks, reworked arcs, sharper character motivation, payoffs readers can’t stop talking about.
  • Bring your vision to life. Execute those rewrites in collaboration with authors and agentic AI tools.
  • Test your instincts. Run reader tests on your revisions, interpret the results, and carry what you learn into the next book.
  • Build relationships with authors, freelance editors, marketing and the wider content team, who will be your collaborators in making each book better.

What You'll Bring::

  • You love romance and read widely in it. You know the tropes, heat levels and subgenres, and you have strong opinions on why readers keep coming back.
  • You have sharp editorial instincts. You can say exactly why a story isn’t working and what would fix it.
  • You’re a creative thinker with big story ideas, and you get excited by the chance to reinvent a book, not just repair it.
  • You’re comfortable with developing creative theories from quantitative data. You can look at reader data, form a hypothesis and explain it clearly.
  • You’re excited to use AI as a creative tool, with the taste to judge what it produces and make it better.
  • You’re smart, curious and hungry. You learn fast, take ownership, and want real responsibility early.
  • You have 1-3 years in editorial or publishing, an MFA, or similar. Your judgment and ideas matter more than your résumé.
  • You can work on-site in San Francisco 5 days a week.

Nice To Have::

  • Experience with serialized or web fiction (Wattpad, Galatea, Kindle Vella, webtoons)
  • Experience giving developmental feedback to writers
  • Your own fiction, playwriting, or screenwriting experience. We love people who make things.

Compensation:

At Inkitt, we strive to build a company culture and provide employment opportunities based on diversity and inclusion. We believe every author should have an equal opportunity to succeed, as should our team members. As a growing team from 20+ countries, we welcome everyone to apply.

Source: Inkitt careers (Lever)

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