Full-Time Limited Term Branded Content Producer

Kqed Inc; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 92,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

KQED is seeking a Branded Content Producer to lead the development and delivery of sponsored campaigns across video, social, audio, and digital formats. This first dedicated production hire will build workflows, production infrastructure, and a partner network for the growing branded-content business.

Hybrid work arrangement between KQED’s headquarters and remote work, with a 3-year term. The role requires strong project management, client leadership, and editorial judgment to ensure

Qualifications

• 5+ years producing branded, sponsored, or commercial content for digital platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to develop concepts quickly and communicate them clearly in decks and client conversations.
• Full lifecycle production experience: budgeting, scheduling, crewing, on-set leadership, and post supervision.
• Experience managing client relationships during production, including setting expectations and navigating feedback.
• Strong editorial judgment and ability to recognize brand-safety, disclosure, rights, or sponsor-influence concerns.
• Experience with scopes of work, production estimates, and change orders, managing scope and budget.

Responsibilities

• Translate client objectives and audience insights into platform-appropriate concepts, treatments, scripts, scopes of work, deliverables, timelines, and budgets.
• Serve as the primary production contact for clients after sale, leading kickoffs, managing feedback, approvals, and scope changes.
• Own multiple projects from kickoff to closeout, balancing timelines, budgets, and quality standards.
• Coordinate with internal teams to secure input and approvals across Sponsorship, Legal, Finance, and Editorial.
• Develop pre-production plans, staffing, and budgets; hire freelance crews and vendors as needed.
• Oversee post-production from paper edit to final delivery, ensuring accessibility and archival practices.
• Ensure compliance with editorial standards, sponsor disclosures, and platform requirements.
• Build repeatable workflows, templates, and a diverse roster of production partners.

Skills

Branded content

Client relations

Project management

Post production

Vendor network

Scoping & estimates

Editorial judgment

Multi-format production

Legal coordination

Communication

Independent execution

Job description

KQED is building a branded and sponsored content business around some of its most valuable digital properties, including Snap Judgment, Spooked, and a growing slate of social, video, audio, and multiplatform formats. The Branded Content Producer will lead the creative development and execution of sold campaigns while helping establish the workflows, production infrastructure, and partner network needed to grow this emerging business responsibly. We are looking for a versatile, entrepreneurial producer who can work across the full lifecycle of branded content, from concept development through final delivery. As the first dedicated production hire for this business, this person will operate across multiple functions and build the operational foundation that future hires will support. The Branded Content Producer will sit within the digital video team and work in close partnership with KQED’s Sponsorship team. This is a Full-Time Limited Term Role for 3 years. Salary Range: $92.068- $115085 Annually

QED envisions a public media organization with a culture that centers on human dignity, equity, and belonging. This will enable us to better serve and reflect the Bay Area through diverse and inclusive storytelling.

We value the contributions of marginalized people in society — including Black, Indigenous, and all people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people — and we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do, and we strongly encourage members of these communities to apply.

KQED Code of Ethics https://www.kqed.org/about/code-ethics

The mission that drives us:

KQED provide citizens of Northern California with a community-supported alternative to commercial media. We provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions; convene community dialogue; bring the arts to everyone and engage audiences to share their stories. We help students and teachers thrive in 21st-century classrooms, and take people of all ages on journeys of exploration- exposing them to new people, places and ideas.

This role will work hybrid between working in KQED's newly renovated headquarters and working remotely.

Essential Functions

Creative Development and Pre-Sale

• Translate client objectives and KQED audience insights into platform-appropriate concepts, treatments, scripts, scopes of work, deliverables, timelines, and production budgets across video, social, audio, digital, and experiential formats.
• Turn around initial creative concepts within 48 hours of receiving an RFP, using a standard template that the Sponsorship team can present to prospective clients.
• Participate in pre-sale conversations as needed to present creative concepts, explain production approaches, and answer client questions.
• Assess the creative, operational, and financial feasibility of opportunities before they are sold, identifying assumptions, constraints, rights requirements, production capacity, and costs to reflect in the client agreement.

Project and Client Management

• Serve as the primary production contact for clients after a project is sold, leading kickoffs, setting expectations, presenting creative work, managing feedback and approvals, and addressing changes in scope, schedule, or budget.
• Own multiple projects simultaneously from kickoff through closeout, balancing client commitments, editorial standards, production capacity, budgets, and delivery deadlines.
• Maintain a clear view of active and prospective projects, schedules, budgets, deliverables, dependencies, and resource needs, and communicate risks to leadership and Sponsorship partners.
• Coordinate with Sponsorship, Legal, Business Affairs, Editorial, Marketing, Audience Development, Finance, Production Operations, and other internal stakeholders to secure required input and approvals.

Production

• Develop and manage pre-production plans, schedules, scopes of work, production budgets, staffing plans, and client expectations for sold projects.
• Hire and manage freelance crews, production companies, talent, and other vendors based on the creative and operational needs of each project.
• Identify opportunities to use KQED facilities, equipment, and approved internal production capacity, and secure external resources when needed.
• During production in the field, studio, or other settings, maintain KQED’s production quality, editorial standards, and agreed-upon client deliverables.
• Manage project budgets throughout production, identifying and documenting changes to scope, schedule, or cost and reconciling expenses at project closeout.

Post-Production and Delivery

• Oversee post-production from paper edit through final delivery, managing editorial review, client feedback, revisions, version control, accessibility, quality control, and final approval.
• Assign and supervise freelance editors and approved internal staff within the production budget established for each project.
• Ensure proper media management, documentation, and asset handling throughout production and post-production.
• Deliver final assets according to client requirements, platform specifications, accessibility standards, and KQED’s archival practices.

Editorial Standards, Rights, and Compliance

• Ensure projects comply with KQED’s editorial and brand standards, sponsor-category restrictions, platform requirements, applicable union agreements, and FTC and other disclosure requirements.
• Maintain a clear separation between sponsor influence and KQED’s independent editorial decision-making, escalating potential editorial conflicts or brand-safety concerns to the appropriate leader.
• Coordinate releases, licenses, rights clearances, music permissions, insurance documentation, accessibility requirements, and other production documentation in partnership with Legal and Business Affairs.

Business Operations and Infrastructure

• Establish repeatable workflows, templates, production schedules, approval processes, and documentation covering the full branded-content lifecycle, from initial RFP through project closeout.
• Identify operational gaps and recommend improvements that increase production quality, consistency, efficiency, and scalability.
• Build and maintain a vetted, diverse roster of production companies, freelancers, and vendors that can be deployed based on project needs, format, location, and budget.
• Partner with Audience Development and analytics teams to establish campaign tracking requirements and assess performance against agreed-upon deliverables and objectives.

Other Job Functions

• Document project learnings and contribute to post-project reporting, case studies, sales materials, and internal best practices.
• Represent the branded-content production function in relevant internal planning meetings and external partner conversations.
• Support special projects and emerging sponsored-content opportunities as business needs and production capacity allow.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge/Experience Required:

• 5+ years producing branded, sponsored, or commercial content for digital platforms, ideally within a media company, branded content studio, or production company
• Demonstrated ability to develop concepts quickly and communicate them clearly in decks and client conversations
• Full-lifecycle production experience: budgeting, scheduling, crewing, on-set leadership, and post supervision
• Experience managing client relationships during production, including setting expectations and navigating feedback
• Working knowledge of post workflows and media management best practices
• An existing network of freelancers and production vendors, or the ability to build one quickly
• Experience creating scopes of work, production estimates, and change orders, with a demonstrated ability to manage scope, budget, and client expectations
• Strong project-management skills and experience managing multiple productions with overlapping deadlines
• Strong editorial judgment and the ability to recognize and elevate brand-safety, disclosure, rights, or sponsor-influence concerns
• Experience working with legal agreements, talent and location releases, licensing, insurance requirements, and production rights clearances
• Experience producing across multiple digital formats and adapting creative for different platforms and audience behaviors
• Excellent written, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills
• Comfort operating solo in a new function where processes are still being defined

Knowledge/Experience Desired:

• Experience at a public media organization or mission-driven brand
• Familiarity with FTC disclosure standards for sponsored and branded content
• Short-form social video production experience (Reels, TikTok, YouTube)
• Experience working alongside unionized production environments

NOTE

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employees may be required to perform other related duties as necessary to meet the ongoing needs of this organization.