Associate Video Producer

Y Combinator is the leading startup accelerator for entrepreneurs. Since 2005, YC has invested in over 6,000 companies, including Airbnb, Dropbox, OpenAI, Stripe, Reddit, DoorDash, Coinbase, and Instacart. Today, YC has built the most powerful startup community in the world and is committed to supporting founders for the life of their company.

Job Description:

Y Combinator is looking for an Associate Video Producer to join the YC Media team. This is a role for someone who is smart, organized, resourceful, and already immersed in startups and technology. You’ll work closely with our Senior Video Producers across videos, podcasts, interviews, and other editorial projects. You’ll help with everything from research and pre-interviews to editing, publishing, scheduling, guest communication, and keeping our production calendar on track.

A lot of this job is making sure things actually get finished. You should be the kind of person who notices what needs to happen next, follows up without being asked, and is happy moving between creative work and the less glamorous details that keep a production running smoothly.

Just as importantly, you should understand the world YC operates in. You follow startups, AI, technology, and the people building them. You know what people in this world are talking about, can quickly understand why something matters, and have enough context to ask good questions rather than starting from zero every time.

What you'll do:

Help produce YC videos and podcasts

- Work with Senior Video Producers to move projects from idea to shoot to final publication.
- Research guests, companies, technologies, and topics.
- Help write interview questions, briefs, descriptions, and other editorial material.
- Schedule and conduct pre-interviews, take detailed notes, and report back to producers.
- Coordinate shoot dates and logistics with founders, companies, and guests.
- Review edits and help prepare projects for final approval.
- Edit short-form clips and other video content.

Keep productions organized

- Maintain notes and project documentation throughout the production process.
- Keep project cards, production schedules, shoot calendars, and publishing calendars up to date.
- Track where every project is in the pipeline and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
- Manage transcripts, video files, review links, and other production assets.
- Download and organize final videos and other assets in Dropbox.
- Transcribe finished recordings.
- Send final edits, transcripts, file links, and YouTube links to YC partners and other collaborators.

Help publish and distribute our work

- Upload and publish episodes across YouTube, podcast platforms, and other channels.
- Make sure titles, descriptions, thumbnails, transcripts, chapters, and other publishing assets are ready.
- Help coordinate the final steps between editorial, production, and distribution.

Help things run smoothly on shoot days

- Welcome guests and help get them where they need to be.
- Make sure guests have water, food, and anything else they need.
- Help keep sets clean, reset, and ready for the next shoot.
- Occasionally assist as a camera operator.
- Help keep our production gear and equipment organized.

You might be a good fit if:

- You’re deeply interested in startups, AI, technology, and the internet, and already understand YC and startup culture. You know the companies, people, ideas, and conversations that matter in this world.
- You’re intellectually curious and learn quickly. You can get up to speed on an unfamiliar company or technical subject without needing everything explained to you.
- You have some experience producing or editing video, podcasts, or other media.
- You’re a strong writer and researcher with good editorial instincts. You can recognize what’s actually interesting about a person, company, or idea and explain complicated technical topics clearly.
- You’re extremely organized, reliable, and comfortable managing lots of small details across several projects at once. You communicate clearly and follow up quickly.
- You’re willing to do whatever needs to be done to make a production successful, whether that’s editing a clip, researching a guest, updating a calendar, or grabbing lunch for a shoot.
- You have strong attention to detail. A wrong link, missing file, forgotten follow-up, or stale calendar entry bothers you. You should be able to spot the difference between Arial and Helvetica or know if it's a Dutch or French flag.
- You have some hands-on experience with cameras, audio, and video production equipment. You don’t need to be an expert, but you should be comfortable helping set up and operate gear on shoots.
- You’re able to safely lift up to 50 pounds as needed for production gear and shoot setup.
- This is a good role for someone early in their media career who wants to learn the entire production process rather than specialize in one narrow part of it.
- You might currently be an assistant producer, production assistant, video editor, podcast producer, editorial assistant, or someone who has been making your own projects and wants to do this professionally. We're less interested in a particular resume than whether you're sharp, curious, capable, and genuinely plugged into the world we cover.
- The best person for this role will be equally comfortable thinking about what makes a piece of content good and doing the hundred small things required to actually get it published.

Location: YC is headquartered in San Francisco, and candidates must reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our Media Team works from our Dogpatch offices in San Francisco at least three days per week, with additional in-office days as filming schedules require. Some projects may also require travel and weekend work.
 
Compensation : $180,000-$200,000 salary (depending on skills and experience).
 
Benefits : Our full benefits package includes medical, vision, and dental plans, an infertility benefit, STD/LTD, life insurance, commuter benefits, a flexible spending account, a health savings account, a 401(k) with 4% matching, generous parental leave, paid holidays, and a flexible paid time off policy.
 
Work Authorization: This position does not support work authorization/visa sponsorship.
 
Y Combinator considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance. Y Combinator is committed to protecting the privacy of job applicants' personal information and to complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act. The privacy policy of Ashby, Inc., the hiring platform used by Y Combinator, governs the collection of such data and is available here .