Short-Form Video Editor

The Role
We're hiring an in-house short-form editor to own our Reels and YouTube Shorts output end-to-end. You'll work directly with our founder & our creator to ship retention-first edits that earn the first 3 seconds and hold the rest.
This isn't a "drag-clips-to-timeline" role. We want an editor who thinks in hooks, edits in beats, and animates with intent. Mid-level here means you ship publish-ready cuts without hand-holding, push back on briefs that won't perform, and bring trends to us before we ask.
What You'll Ship
25 - 30 short-form edits per month: primarily Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, with occasional LinkedIn video and long-form repurposes
They are motion-graphics-led: kinetic typography, animated lower-thirds, logo stings, masked transitions, simple 2D character/object motion
Full post-production ownership per edit: rough cut → sound design & SFX → motion → captions → color → delivery
2–3 trend or format ideas per week brought to the team — sounds, hooks, on-screen text styles, edit structures
Light review of junior editor cuts and contributions to our preset/template library
What We're Looking For
Must-haves:
2–4 years editing short-form for Instagram Reels and/or YouTube Shorts, with shipped work to show
Strong Adobe Premiere Pro + After Effects workflow — you build your own motion graphics, you don't only adapt templates
A retention-first instinct: hook in the first 1–3 seconds, pacing that holds the curve, no dead frames
Current trend literacy on Reels and Shorts — sounds, formats, kinetic caption styles (Poppins / Montserrat / Inter etc.)
Sound design instincts — when a beat drop, SFX, or beat of silence does the work
Color grading via Lumetri (or DaVinci Resolve) — clean, consistent, brand-aware
Comfort shipping 4–6 edits a week without quality drop
Nice-to-haves:
CapCut Pro for fast trend matches and mobile-native edits
DaVinci Resolve for grading
Photoshop / Illustrator for asset creation
Familiarity with AI tools in your workflow: ElevenLabs (VO), HeyGen, Midjourney / Freepik AI (B-roll), Runway or Kling (generative), Descript
Reading retention curves and iterating on best-performing cuts
Experience editing for a creator's personal brand or D2C brand
What we don't need:
3D / Houdini-level VFX
Long-form documentary or film editing as your primary craft
A 12-tool laundry list — we'd rather you be sharp on Premiere + AE than mid on everything
What We Offer
Creative ownership: you ship work that goes out, not into a black hole of revisions
Direct line to [founders/creators] no five-layer approval chain
[Equipment / software stipend / leave policy]
A team that ships fast and respects the craft
How to Apply
Send to dev@phoenix.studio with subject line: "Hooked from the first second — [Your Name]"
Include:
Your reel or portfolio link (Drive, Vimeo, Behance, personal site - not attachments)
3 short-form edits you're proud of, each with a one-line note on the result (views, retention, watch time, whatever you measured)
One Reel or Short you saved this week and 2–3 sentences on why it works
No cover letter. No "passionate about storytelling" paragraph. Show us the work.
Shortlisted candidates will get a trial edit on the supplied raw footage before the final round.

Work arrangement
No