In 2024, ProPublica launched a short-form vertical video team to adapt our long-form investigative journalism for audiences on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Since then, the team has amassed nearly 65 million views. Now we’re building out the second phase of our social video strategy and have launched a new YouTube team dedicated to producing midlength adaptations for the platform.

We are looking for a video editor and motion designer who has a passion for accountability journalism and is excited by the opportunity to bring our reporting to an increasing number of viewers who treat YouTube as a platform to learn about the world around them.

In this role, you will work alongside video producers on the YouTube team and will own the creative and technical postproduction for several assigned videos a month. As this is a new team, you will also be a key part of building the workflows and best practices that make our YouTube video pipeline sustainable as well as creating the visual identity that helps to answer: What should ProPublica look and sound like on YouTube? 

The videos you help create for YouTube are meant to serve as standalone editorial products, and we’re looking for your platform-native expertise to drive experimentation that helps us learn quickly, adapt and deliver the most compelling storytelling formats while adhering to our rigorous editorial standards and practices. You should be comfortable working with reporters and editors across the newsroom as well as freelancers we’ll bring on to help with projects.

This is a temporary two-year role that will report to our director of multiplatform audience strategy. The YouTube team sits within the larger ProPublica audience team.

Essential responsibilities 

• Collaborate with producers to create videos — and related promo cuts — that are grounded in ethical journalistic principles, standards and practices.
• Use editorial judgment to translate investigations and video scripts with the sensitivity, care and appropriate tone they require.
• Own the creative and technical postproduction for videos — editing, motion graphic design and animation, color grading and sound design — ensuring projects are shaped and paced for a YouTube-first audience.
• Own end-to-end motion design workflows, including creating storyboards, animatics and the polished final products for videos.
• Establish and maintain a central motion design library of MOGRTs, templates, toolkits and other reusable visual assets for teamwide use.
• Maintain ProPublica’s brand standards and overall design system, collaborating with the design and graphics teams, among others, to ensure visual cohesiveness in videos.
• Communicate proactively with the team regarding project status and timelines and directly collaborate with producers on scoping and delivering videos on schedule. 
• Manage multiple projects in various stages of production, sometimes meeting tight deadlines.

About you

We are looking for candidates who have proven that they can use video editing and design skills for journalistic ends.

The ideal candidate will have these skills and attributes:

• Four or more years of professional video editing and motion design experience in a newsroom, media organization or production studio. 
• High proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, with expert proficiency in both Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro.
• A portfolio that highlights videos you have edited specifically for YouTube, including hosted, vlog-style and/or explainer formats.
• Experience building tension in hooks, controlling pacing and navigating tonal shifts in video storytelling. 
• You are energized by the opportunity of being part of a founding team and creating something from scratch — establishing formats, defining visual languages and building efficient workflows. 
• You thrive while collaborating, seeking input from others and iterating your work based on feedback. 

And many of these: 

• Experience being part of a founding YouTube team or launching a new project initiative. 
• Experience in on-site production, including shooting on professional camera equipment and knowledge of lighting and audio setups.
• Experience with digital asset management and video archival workflows. 
• Proficiency in Figma and Google Workspace.

This job is full time and includes benefits. ProPublica is based in New York, but we’re open to remote candidates. We have offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Chicago; Phoenix; and Berkeley, California. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. and have the ability to travel, as necessary, for team meetings, training and video-related duties.

This role is subject to an in-office work requirement of two days per week in the New York City office. That requirement may be extended to other offices with 60 days’ notice. 

This job is covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with The NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003, CWA, AFL-CIO.

The expected salary range for this position is $90,000 to $115,000.

This is a good-faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The final salary figure will take into account a person’s experience, accomplishment and location. ProPublica is committed to paying its staff equitably, and these ranges should not be considered career salary limits or caps.

We will begin reviewing applications as we receive them, but we will continue to consider candidates as long as the posting remains live on our site.

Questions? Send an email to [email protected]. 

No phone calls, please.