Lead Video Editor

👩‍💻 The role

As Post-Production Manager, you'll lead video editing at Headout, building the team, systems, and creative standards that make great travel content possible at scale.

We create long-form and short-form videos that help millions of people make better travel decisions. From explaining the London Underground to breaking down museum tickets or navigating an unfamiliar city, our videos turn complicated information into something simple, useful, and engaging.

You'll own creative quality, editorial standards, timelines, and the post-production pipeline while building workflows that help the team deliver excellent videos consistently. You'll partner with producers and writers to improve storytelling and formats, use YouTube performance data to make better creative decisions, and develop editors who can work independently.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You'll continue editing and independently own a smaller slate of videos alongside your management responsibilities, with lower individual output targets than the editors you manage.

🤩 What makes this role special?

• Set the Editorial Standard: You'll define what great looks like across storytelling, pacing, motion graphics, visual clarity, and audience retention. Your goal is to make informational travel content genuinely engaging without relying on unnecessary effects or visual complexity.

• Build a Scalable Post-Production System: You'll own the pipeline from asset handover and first cuts to feedback, quality checks, and final delivery. You'll build workflows, templates, and reusable visual systems that help the team produce better videos, faster.

• Stay Hands-On with the Craft: You'll continue editing videos yourself, experimenting with formats, and making creative decisions. You'll balance your own editing responsibilities with leading the team and maintaining quality across projects.

• Build a Team of Independent Editors: You'll lead editors working across long-form and short-form content, owning creative quality, timelines, feedback, and delivery. You'll mentor them, strengthen their editorial judgement, and build a culture of ownership and constructive feedback.

• Shape Stories That People Want to Watch: You'll work closely with producers and writers to improve formats, identify storytelling opportunities, and solve creative challenges. You'll turn information people are actively searching for into content they find useful and enjoyable.

• Use Data to Make Better Creative Decisions: You'll use YouTube metrics, including click-through rate (CTR), audience retention, and average view duration, to understand what's working and improve future edits. Data will inform your creative judgement, not replace it.

• Make Creative Work More Efficient: You'll experiment with new tools, including AI, to eliminate repetitive tasks and give editors more time to focus on creative decisions. You'll build systems that reduce firefighting, improve consistency, and make every project easier to execute than the last.

💝 What skills & experience do you need?

• 4–6 years of experience in video editing and post-production, with experience leading editors or managing multiple projects.

• Strong editing skills: A portfolio demonstrating excellent storytelling, pacing, motion graphics, visual clarity, and editorial judgement. A portfolio is a must.

• Team leadership: Experience leading editors, managing feedback and timelines, maintaining creative quality, and developing team members.

• Strong storytelling instincts: Ability to make informational content engaging and easy to understand without relying on unnecessary effects or visual complexity.

• Workflow management: Ability to manage multiple deadlines, streamline post-production processes, and build reusable templates and systems that improve speed and consistency.

• Understanding of YouTube: Familiarity with how editing decisions influence click-through rate (CTR), audience retention, and average view duration.

• Technical expertise: Strong knowledge of editing software, motion graphics, asset management, and collaborative workflows.

• Feedback and mentorship: Ability to give clear, actionable feedback that strengthens editorial judgement and helps editors become more independent.

• Hands-on ownership: Willingness to continue editing videos while managing and developing a team.

• A systems-first mindset: Someone who simplifies workflows, balances quality with speed, uses data to inform creative decisions, and looks for ways to make every project more efficient than the last.