Director of Photography, Athletics

Wake Forest University is hiring a Director of Photography, Athletics based in Winston-Salem, NC, to lead all visual production for Wake Forest Athletics. This role sits at the center of a full-service athletics media operation, responsible for still photography output across live events, studio shoots, recruiting packages, and archival productions. It suits an experienced sports photographer who is equally comfortable running a gameday photo desk and shaping long-term visual identity for a Division I program.

About the Role

The Director of Photography, Athletics works within the Wake Forest Athletics creative and media relations departments, producing imagery that serves everything from social media campaigns and broadcast graphics to Deacon Club fundraising and student-athlete recruiting. A typical day spans pre-production planning, location scouting, equipment coordination, and post-production workflow management including color correction, metadata tagging, and file delivery through Photoshelter. The role also carries direct oversight of freelance photographers, student interns, and volunteers on gamedays.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct photography across all athletics events, studio sessions, and location shoots, ensuring output meets ACC and NCAA compliance standards.
• Manage the full post-production workflow for still photography, including color grading, cropping, format delivery, and digital asset management through Photoshelter and OpenDorse.
• Maintain and organize digital and analog archives with proper metadata, tagging, and file structure to support long-term institutional use.
• Lead and schedule gameday freelancers, student volunteers, and interns, coordinating coverage assignments and equipment logistics across multiple simultaneous productions.
• Collaborate with media relations, fan experience, and coaching staff to plan shoot assignments, develop creative concepts, and meet publishing deadlines across integrated media campaigns.
• Select, purchase, and maintain studio and field equipment while managing the photography budget in coordination with department leadership.

What You Bring

• A bachelor’s degree and demonstrated experience photographing athletic events at the intercollegiate or professional level.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite including Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere, and Prelude, with working knowledge of color correction and basic audio mixing.
• Experience managing digital media workflows, production equipment, and high-volume file delivery under deadline pressure.
• Video production knowledge covering shooting, color correction, and editing in an athletics or sports media context.
• Ability to travel with teams, work non-standard hours including nights and weekends, and hold a valid driver’s license.

Why This Role

Wake Forest University competes at the highest level of collegiate athletics in the ACC, giving the Director of Photography, Athletics consistent access to high-profile events, nationally broadcast productions, and a media operation that reaches recruits, alumni, and fans across multiple platforms. The position offers genuine creative ownership over visual storytelling for an athletics program with national visibility, not a support function buried inside a larger department.

Apply now for the Director of Photography, Athletics role at Wake Forest University and bring your sports production background to one of college athletics’ most storied programs.