Video Editor and Motion Designer, Temporary

Pro Publica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

In 2024, Pro Publica launched a short-form vertical video team to adapt our long-form investigative journalism for audiences on Instagram, Tik Tok and You Tube 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 You Tube 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 You Tube as a platform to learn about the world around them.

In this role, you will work alongside video producers on the You Tube 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 You Tube video pipeline sustainable as well as creating the visual identity that helps to answer:
What should Pro Publica look and sound like on You Tube?

The videos you help create for You Tube 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 You Tube team sits within the larger Pro Publica audience team.

• 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 You Tube-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 Pro Publica'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.

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 You Tube, 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…