Social Video Editor

The Washington Post is hiring a Social Video Editor to join its newsroom in Washington, D.C. This role sits within the social video team, responsible for shooting, editing, and publishing short-form vertical video content across Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat, and X. It suits a journalist-adjacent editor who understands both news judgment and the social video workflow well enough to do both under deadline pressure.

About the Role

The Social Video Editor works inside a newsroom production environment where the output is platform-native short-form content built around The Washington Post’s reporting. Day to day, this means pulling selects from field footage, cutting vertical video packages optimized for social viewing, and working directly with reporters to sharpen their on-camera delivery before a piece goes out. The post-production workflow here moves fast, and the editor owns the full pipeline from ingest to publish.

Key Responsibilities

• Shoot and edit vertical video optimized for social platforms, with particular attention to hook construction, pacing, and caption accuracy.
• Partner with Post journalists to develop personality-driven social-first video tailored to the format requirements of each individual platform.
• Write scripts, headlines, and metadata that improve discoverability and align with newsroom editorial standards.
• Track engagement metrics across the social video portfolio and adjust production and editorial strategy based on performance data.
• Coach reporters on scripting, framing, and on-camera delivery as part of an ongoing social video training effort across the newsroom.
• Collaborate with editors, producers, and designers to maintain consistent visual tone and voice across all social video output.

What You Bring

• At least three years of video editing experience, with a minimum of two years inside a professional newsroom environment.
• Strong proficiency in Adobe Premiere, with demonstrated ability to manage a full social publishing pipeline from edit to upload.
• Hands-on experience publishing to major social platforms and a working knowledge of vertical video best practices for each.
• The ability to write clear, accurate social copy and scripts quickly, without sacrificing fact-checking standards.
• A track record of using audience engagement data to inform short-form content decisions.

Why This Role

The Washington Post operates one of the most-watched newsroom social video programs in the country, giving this editor genuine reach and a real body of work to build on. The role offers direct access to the reporting and journalists behind major national stories, which is rare for a social video position at this level.

Apply now for the Social Video Editor role at The Washington Post and bring your short-form editorial instincts to one of the most recognized newsrooms in the country.