New York Times seeks senior producer, Opinion Audio

The New York Times Opinion Audio Team is hiring a temporary senior producer (4.5 months) for our weekly podcast First Person, hosted by Lulu Garcia-Navarro. Each episode delves into how people come to their beliefs and their opinions, typically drawing from a central character’s personal experience. First Person features people whose stories intersect with the news and big cultural moments, people who can help us understand the world in new ways. Episodes present one story per week, most employing narrative two-ways.

The ideal candidate is excellent at researching and pitching stories, finding fascinating and diverse sources, booking guests (especially skilled in matching interesting voices to a particular topic), preparing interviews, and cutting tape to build scenes and episodes. We are looking for a temporary senior producer who is passionate about the news and is interested in finding stories and people who will help listeners better understand the world around them. Producers must be experienced working with hosts to shape conversations around a big question, drawing out stories from guests, weaving in tape and working on fast and longer turnarounds in parallel. Producers work in close collaboration with an editor to take stories from conception to completion.

Responsibilities:

• Shows creativity and autonomy in finding and consistently pitching stories that become strong episodes
• Finds and books interesting and original guests, from everyday people living through something extraordinary to well-known people ready to share their stories
• Follows news and NYT coverage to identify ideas for coverage and guests
• Excels at matching topics and guests to both host’s strengths and ethos of show
• Pre-interviews sources to help drive the direction of the episode
• Researches and writes prep questions for host two-ways
• Structures interview questions with a narrative arc; skilled at eliciting plot and reflection
• Assists with directing host and guests (who may not have experience in audio) in studio and remote locations
• Organizes audio and transcripts
• Coordinates with editors on post-production plan
• Consistently selects the best available tape
• Takes the lead on cutting 2-ways
• Supports all aspects of episode publication, including working with fact checking, the audience team, and engineering
• Maintains an efficient workflow and responsible scheduling of short-term and long-term projects; well organized and self-motivated
• Manage an editorial calendar, juggling immediate priorities and longer-term ambitions
• Work with editorial figures from both the audio team and New York Times Opinion crafting stories

Qualifications:

• 7+ years experience producing audio stories and journalism
• Sound news judgment and experience working in a newsroom or on a news show
• Experience in building complex narratives in audio
• Fluency in audio editing in Pro Tools
• Experience in field tape collection, scoring and sound design
• Ability to think creatively about how to make smart audio shows and shape conversations that will get listeners hooked
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience in a deadline-driven environment on a weekly or daily show
• Believes in The New York Times’ mission and is dedicated to being a part of our innovation and growth
• Able to uphold the existing editorial standards of The Times

​This is a Guild position

The annual base pay range for this role is between $115,506.56 and $135,000.00.