Senior Video Editor

The Council on Foreign Relations is hiring a Senior Video Editor based in Manhattan, New York. This is a post-production leadership role within CFR’s video team, responsible for driving editorial development across documentary storytelling, explainer content, and social video formats from script through final delivery. The role suits a non-fiction editor with strong motion graphics chops and a genuine interest in translating complex policy ideas into visual journalism for general audiences.

About the Role

CFR’s video team produces short-form documentaries, video explainers, and platform-native social content that makes foreign policy accessible to a broad public. The Senior Video Editor sits at the center of that post-production workflow, shaping narrative structure across the team’s slate while also serving as an editorial mentor to junior and mid-level producers. A typical day moves between cutting your own projects, giving notes on a colleague’s rough cut, and building motion graphics systems that hold up across multiple productions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead editorial development on video explainers and short-form documentary productions, shaping story structure, pacing, and editorial voice from early cut through picture lock.
• Design and execute original motion graphics and animation packages that translate foreign policy concepts into visually coherent sequences consistent with CFR’s established style guide.
• Edit and produce social video content optimized for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, with particular fluency in vertical video formats and platform-native pacing.
• Write and edit scripts, substantive outlines, and interview questions for non-fiction video storytelling across multiple formats and lengths.
• Direct on-camera interviews in studio and field settings, and research archival photo and footage needs while negotiating licensing terms with vendors.
• Mentor junior producers through hands-on engagement with their edits, modeling high craft standards in post-production workflow and editorial decision-making.

What You Bring

• At least 7 years editing and producing non-fiction video, with a portfolio covering documentary, explainer, long-form, and social video formats.
• Mastery of Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, including the ability to develop original graphic systems and extend existing visual styles.
• Demonstrated experience adapting long-form editorial content into short-form and vertical social video across multiple platforms.
• Experience writing and editing scripts and conducting interviews for non-fiction production.
• A BA in film and TV production, journalism, or a related field, with an advanced degree considered a plus.

Why This Role

CFR is one of the most recognized foreign policy institutions in the country, and its video team operates with genuine editorial independence on content that reaches large public audiences. This is a full-time, on-site position in New York City requiring at least four days per week in the office, with Tuesday through Thursday as required anchor days. For a Senior Video Editor looking to lead narrative work on substantive non-fiction content, this is a rare staff position with real editorial authority.

Apply now for the Senior Video Editor role at the Council on Foreign Relations and bring your editorial instincts to one of the most respected names in foreign policy media.