Freelance Video Editor Jobs in San Ramon, CA (NOW HIRING)

Title: Senior Video Editor
Schedule Format - Location: Hybrid - San Francisco
Pay Information: $110,160 - $137,700

The Senior Video Editor is an experienced creative and technical leader responsible for overseeing post-production across KQED's Digital Video portfolio. This role will lead the post-production of midform YouTube content and vertical video series supporting KQED's Food, Guides, and Technology editorial verticals.

Working closely with the Manager, Video Content & Development, the Senior Video Editor will edit original digital video content while also establishing and maintaining consistent post-production workflows, creative standards, and editorial best practices across multiple productions. This position will provide creative leadership throughout the editorial process while managing post-production schedules, workflows, technical systems, and editing resources to ensure high-quality content is delivered efficiently.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished editor and visual storyteller with extensive experience editing digital video and broadcast content. They possess exceptional editorial judgment, advanced post-production expertise, and the ability to mentor editors while maintaining the highest creative and technical standards. This role requires extensive knowledge of post-production workflows, media management, motion graphics, color correction, audio finishing, and delivery specifications across multiple platforms.

This is a full-time position reporting to the Manager, Video Content Development.

KQED envisions a public media organization with a culture that centers on human dignity, equity, and belonging. This will enable us to better serve and reflect the Bay Area through diverse and inclusive storytelling.

We value the contributions of marginalized people in society — including Black, Indigenous, and all people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people — and we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do, and we strongly encourage members of these communities to apply.

KQED Code of Ethics https://www.kqed.org/about/code-ethics

The mission that drives us:

KQED provide citizens of Northern California with a community-supported alternative to commercial media. We provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions; convene community dialogue; bring the arts to everyone and engage audiences to share their stories. We help students and teachers thrive in 21st-century classrooms, and take people of all ages on journeys of exploration- exposing them to new people, places and ideas.

This role will work hybrid between working in KQED's newly renovated headquarters and working remotely.

• Lead the post-production of original video content across YouTube and vertical video platforms, ensuring projects meet KQED's creative, editorial, and technical standards.
• Accountable for establishing and maintaining post-production workflows and editorial best practices across KQED's Digital Video productions.
• Edit high-profile and complex productions while providing creative oversight and quality control across projects edited by staff and freelance editors.
• Supervise and mentor on-call Video Editors, providing creative direction, editorial feedback, technical guidance, and professional development.
• Ensure productions meet technical specifications and delivery requirements for digital platforms, broadcast television, archives, and long-term asset preservation.
• Identify opportunities to improve post-production efficiency, implement new technologies and workflows, and support scalable production systems across the Digital Video department.
• Serve as the primary Digital Video resource for troubleshooting workflow issues, identifying technical improvements, proposing solutions, and elevating infrastructure concerns to TV Engineering when appropriate.
• Collaborate with producers, motion graphic artists, composers, illustrators, and other creative partners to produce engaging and visually compelling content across multiple platforms.
• Collaborate with the Manager, Video Content Development and Senior Video Producer to support current productions while developing scalable systems for future series.
• Work closely with TV Engineering to implement and improve post-production workflows across Digital Video while developing an understanding of existing production processes and delivery requirements.
• Partner with the Production Manager, Production Coordinator, and Manager, Digital Asset Management & Archives to establish, document, and enforce workflows for ingesting, organizing, archiving, and retrieving production media, maintaining visual and audio cue sheet reporting, and supporting organization-wide adoption of post-production systems.

• Perform other video and organizational duties as assigned.

• Minimum of 8 years of professional post-production experience editing digital video and broadcast content.
• Extensive experience editing content for digital platforms, including YouTube and social video platforms.
• Experience editing and delivering content for broadcast television.
• Advanced proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud, including Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Media Encoder, and related post-production software.
• Extensive knowledge of post-production workflows, media management, editing systems, color correction, audio finishing, graphics, and delivery specifications.
• Proven track record of supervising, mentoring, and providing creative feedback to editors and other post-production staff.
• Experience establishing and maintaining editorial workflows across multiple concurrent productions.
• Demonstrated expertise working with modern Media Asset Management (MAM) systems.
• Strong troubleshooting skills with the ability to quickly diagnose workflow and technical issues and collaborate with engineering teams to implement solutions.
• Strong visual storytelling, pacing, and editorial judgment across multiple video formats.
• Experience collaborating with producers, production managers, engineering teams, and external partners throughout the production process.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, innovative, and collaborative production environment.
• This position is primarily in-office.
• Bachelor's degree preferred.

• Experience working with Avid Media Composer.
• Experience implementing organization-wide post-production workflows and editorial standards.
• Background of working within a public media organization or mission-driven media environment.
• Familiarity with enterprise media asset management systems, archive workflows, and digital preservation practices.
• Experience creating motion graphics, animation, and advanced visual effects.
• Familiarity with current digital video trends, evolving post-production technologies, and emerging distribution platforms.
• Background working within public media or other mission-driven media environments.

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employees may be required to perform other related duties as necessary to meet the ongoing needs of this organization.