American editor may be employed (4)
I believe the answer is:
used
'be employed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american editor' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'US' (abbreviation for United States).
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'us'+'ed'='USED'
'may' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for used that I've seen before include "Availed oneself of" , "That's not new" , "Second-hand - not wasted" , "Not fresh" , "Scottish expert" .)