LEAD EDITOR

Lead Editor The Role

The Lead Editor is the post-production backbone of the storytelling team – ingesting every frame, managing every file, and crafting the final story that makes the client feel like someone finally got it exactly right.

• Full Time or Freelance
• Hybrid
• DFW or Remote

• Competitive

About Harp & Sling

Harp & Sling is a storytelling-first creative agency that helps brands cut through mediocrity through cinematic video, photography, and strategic storytelling campaigns. We serve industries where trust, people, and real-world impact matter—construction, engineering, architecture, design, nonprofits, and thought leadership.

We don’t just “shoot content.” We lead stories—from strategy to execution—capturing people, projects, and purpose with clarity, excellence, and heart. As we scale our Storytelling Team model, we’re looking for a Lead Editor
—a seasoned visual leader who can own projects, lead teams, and deliver consistently excellent work in demanding environments.

Shooting great footage is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is another.

The Lead Editor at Harp & Sling is not just someone who cuts clips together. They are the person who takes everything the team captures – hours of footage, multiple cameras, layers of audio, b-roll, interviews, moments – and sees through all of it with clarity and purpose. They find the thread. They build the arc. They deliver the story the client always hoped someone could tell.

You will own the full editing lifecycle – from the moment footage comes off the drive to the moment the final deliverable is approved and delivered. That means data management is not a side task. It is a core competency. You know exactly where every file lives, how it is organized, and what its status is at any given moment. Nothing gets lost.

Nothing gets missed. Nothing gets sent that is not ready.

You report to the Creative Director and take clear creative direction from them – translating their vision into the final cut with discipline and precision. You work in close collaboration with the Director of Photography, who delivers the footage, and the Editing Specialist, who supports the post-production workflow. You are the connective tissue of post-production, and the whole pod counts on you to hold it together.

• Own all aspects of post-production data management: ingestion, organization, backup, and file integrity from first card pull to final archive
• Build and maintain a consistent, clearly labeled project file structure that the entire pod can navigate
• Verify footage quality, audio sync, and file completeness upon every handoff from the Director of Photography
• Maintain organized project libraries across all active client accounts with zero tolerance for missing or mislabeled assets
• Serve as the post-production system expert – the team comes to you when they need to find something, and you always know where it is

• Ingest all production material and approach it with fresh eyes – seeing through the volume and finding the story inside it
• Execute the full editing lifecycle: assembly cut, rough cut, fine cut, color, audio polish, and final delivery
• Follow the Creative Director’s vision precisely while bringing your own editorial instincts to serve the story
• Craft narrative-driven edits that feel intentional, emotionally resonant, and built for the client’s audience
• Manage multiple project timelines simultaneously without losing detail or quality on any of them

• Ensure every deliverable reflects the client’s original intent and the Creative Director’s creative direction
• Prepare and export final deliverables to exact client specifications: format, resolution,…