Associate Producer, What Next

Slate is looking for a versatile, capable associate producer to help us make our critically acclaimed daily news podcasts, What Next and What Next: TBD. This producer must be hungry to tackle the news, whether that’s finding fresh angles and voices on the biggest headlines of the day or bringing under-covered but essential stories to Slate’s national audience.

The ideal candidate must be flexible—the news moves fast—and ambitious. You don’t take yourself too seriously, but you’re serious about the work. You are kind, collaborative, and generous with your colleagues, but you can articulate concerns and solve problems as they crop up. You have an excellent ear, strong writing chops, a nose for news, and an appreciation for tight deadlines.

Associate producers are hyperorganized and able to work independently. Reporting to a supervising producer, you will be provided with mentorship and clear supervision to help grow your skills and take on more responsibility over time. You will eventually need to move fluidly between pitching, booking, prepping, recording, writing, editing, and mixing—with a degree of creative troubleshooting in between. The ideal candidate will come with a degree of experience in both audio and video editing and production.

This position can be located in Slate’s New York or D.C. office. We will consider remote work for the right candidate. The annual base pay range for this job is between $75,000 and $81,000. This is a position covered under a collective bargaining agreement between Slate and the Writers Guild of America East.

• Work with a host and team of producers to conceive and develop episodes
• Implement script notes quickly and sensitively
• Pull tape and images for use in both audio and video edits
• Help arrange interviews and oversee recording sessions, often over remote connections
• Engage in episode mixing, including scoring, sound design, and audio correction
• Interview and/or preinterview sources
• Book guests, stringers, and studios
• Prep host for interview tapings: research guests and prepare and send interview briefs
• Put together mixes of episodes or episode introductions in Pro Tools and/or DaVinci Resolve
• Fact-check scripts
• Select and edit clips for social media and other promotion
• Attend all production and editorial meetings
• Lend general editorial feedback throughout the production process
• Lend general administrative support to all producers and production teams

• At least two years’ experience in radio or podcasting in a journalistic environment
• At least two years’ experience with professional audio-editing software, preferably Pro Tools
• A demonstrated ability with video-production software, including DaVinci or Adobe Premiere
• Excellent writing skills and story sense