Director, Audio Engineering

Job Description

Vox empowers audiences with insight needed to understand and shape our world. Our four podcasts (Today, Explained, Unexplainable, The Weeds, and The Gray Area) fulfill this mission in different ways, spanning subject matter and style.

The Director of Audio Engineering is responsible for instilling excellence across Vox's audio team through the mentorship and management of an industry-leading team of audio engineers and sound designers. The Director manages and schedules staff and freelance engineers for all four Vox shows, and serves as the lead engineer for our flagship daily news radio show and podcast Today, Explained. Engineering is integral to each show's team and process, and the director is responsible for ensuring each episode meets the highest audio quality standards for podcast and broadcast distribution. Engineers at Vox oversee recording sessions and edit, mix, score, sound design, and publish episodes. The director leads the creative development of the sound and style of each show by advising on music libraries, commissioning original music when needed, and creating original sound design. The director is also responsible for mentorship and skill-building across the audio team, including production training and workshops.

If you're the right person for the role, you have considerable experience working on high-profile podcast or broadcast shows as well as experience in leadership. You are comfortable working with a clock, on deadline, and you are able to mentor and train engineers who are mixing complex segments with clips, narration, field tape, ambi and music. You have hands-on experience with narrative storytelling productions: you're well-versed in using sound design and music to elevate a story, and can work with production teams to identify and integrate the best quality tape. Crucially, you can transform abstract ideas into a clearly defined, creatively sound-designed scene.

You can work under deadline pressure without compromising high production standards. You are detail-oriented and can confidently deliver a polished final mix. We use ProTools, but proficiency with a variety of recording and mixing technologies is preferred for this role. You should know how to mix to a loudness that meets industry standards, and have experience with audio tools ranging from microphones and portable recorders to plug-ins for EQ, compression, de-noising, etc. The role fosters an environment of excellence in which newcomers and seasoned industry veterans alike can do their best work.

Vox values thinkers, creatives, and obsessives from all backgrounds. We are looking to hire the right person - not the right résumé. We encourage those with diverse and nontraditional experience to apply.

WHO WE ARE

Vox candidly shepherds audiences through politics and policy, business and pop culture, food, science, and everything else that matters.

Vox is part of Vox Media, the leading modern media company. We guide our audience from discovery to obsession. We inspire essential conversations about what's now, what's next, and what's possible.

As a community of journalists and storytellers, business professionals, creators and technologists, we believe it is a moral and business imperative to amplify voices: to cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our organization and media. This applies to our candidates, our teams, our storytelling, our creative work, and our platforms, products, and partnerships.

WHAT YOU'LL DO
• Serve as a member of the department's leadership group
• Record sessions, score and sound design, mix and master episodes
• Supervise and mentor staff engineers and freelancers, acting as the primary decision maker on staffing decisions
• Advise on each show's sound and style, develop and maintain music libraries, commission original music as needed
• Facilitate team training via internal and external sources as well as provide mentoring on an individual basis
• Train staff on in-person studio facilities, design and deliver home studio setups for remote hosts and producers
• Collaborate with the Media Production Technology department to develop, refine, and document best practices
• Foster an environment of excellence, collaboration, and innovation. And Fun.

WHO YOU ARE
• At least 7 years experience working as an engineer of audio stories as part of a fast-moving, collaborative team under deadline pressure, for a variety of podcast/broadcast formats
• Advanced knowledge of DAW / ProTools
• Command of studio and post-production tasks including recording, tape editing, sound design and mixing/mastering
• Management or mentorship experience
• Demonstrated skills in editing narrative audio productions or film/TV documentary sound mixing
• Ability to work in a fast-paced production environment and remain composed and productive under deadline pressure
• Ability to take direction and work independently within a collaborative, team environment
• Incredible attention to detail
• Familiarity with control rooms and digital consoles, specifically Yamaha boards

If you think you have what it takes, but don't meet every single point in our job posting, please apply with a cover letter to let us know how you believe you can bring your unique skills to the Vox Media team or get in touch! We've hired chefs who became editors, DJs who became UX designers, and sommeliers who became writers.

WHERE YOU'LL WORK

This job is remote. We're dedicated to the health and wellbeing of all of our employees, and when we reopen, will require everyone who works from one of our offices to be fully-vaccinated against COVID-19. Employees with approved religious or medical exemptions may be subject to additional safety requirements, such as submitting to regular COVID-19 testing and/or wearing a face covering in our offices.

PAY TRANSPARENCY

The salary range listed below represents the minimum and maximum base pay for this position at the time of this posting. Final salary offered to the candidate selected for the position will be based on factors including but not limited to the candidate's skills and experience.

Pay Range

$120,000 — $150,000 USD

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gq4nw9-216-73-216-177-42 in your application.