Open Contracting Position on the Video Team: Pair Writer / Writing Support to Aric Floyd

About us

80,000 Hours helps people find careers that effectively tackle the world’s most pressing problems. Our AI in Context YouTube channel makes documentary-style videos about transformative AI — its implications, the risks (including existential risks), and what people can do about it. We’ve published three videos so far (all with 1M+ views), and we want to hone our production.

The role

Aric does his best work when someone with deep context on the script is right next to him or live on a call. It’s a mix of writing, editing, ‘rubber ducking’ (being someone to bounce ideas against), and project management.

Core writing support

This is the core of the role. Your job on a high level: do as much of the metacognition as possible so Aric can focus on the writing itself.

That looks like things like:

• “What’s your daily goal and how do we play the day from that?”
• “Are you avoiding any part of the writing?”
• “How did the last 15 minutes go?”
• “What is the viewer going to think at this point in the story?”
• Reading the script and giving a take on how the narrative is going
• Being warmly disagreeable if he suggests a plan you think won’t work
• Developing a model of how he works and what gets him stuck

Project managing the script

Beyond the in-the-room thinking partner stuff, this role also involves keeping the scriptwriting on track at a higher level:

• Tracking whether enough progress is being made against daily, weekly, and quarterly goals
• Having a clear picture of the production timeline and what deadlines actually matter (e.g. shoot dates, editor availability)
• Flagging early when it looks like we’ll miss a deadline, and adjusting the pace
• Helping Aric make plans
• Knowing when to push (“We need to move on from this section”) vs. when to give space (“This is the hard creative part; it’s supposed to be slow right now”)

Doing your own writing passes

Part of the value here would be being able to contribute directly to the script as a writer and editor.

That means:

• Reading drafts carefully and giving substantive feedback on narrative, structure, and argument
• Doing your own editing passes on sections, where you’re actually rewriting and tightening, not just commenting
• Drafting sections or transitions when Aric is stuck, so he has something to react to rather than a blank page
• Researching, hunting down claims, finding sources, or pulling relevant quotes from interviews when the script needs it

About the team

You’d be working with the video team within 80,000 Hours, currently four full-time people:

• Aric Floyd (Associate Video Producer) is our host and one of our primary scriptwriters, and the person you’d work with most closely. He has a background as an actor, and he’s the on-camera face of the channel as well as one of the creative engines behind our scripts.
• Phoebe Brooks (Video Production Specialist), based in London, has a background as a filmmaker. She leads on editing, production, and post-production and is the creative lead on our current in-production video.
• Sage Bergerson (Video Operations Associate) keeps the operational side of the team running.
• Chana Messinger (Head of Video) leads the team.

We also work with many excellent contractors.

We’re a small team that works quickly to try to produce extremely high quality long-form videos about transformative AI and existential risk in a way that’s thoughtful and entertaining. We’ve had more quick success than we expected, and we want to keep aiming high. It’s a place where storytelling, impact-focus, and artistry all meet, and it’s often extremely fun. You can see us hard at work here.

What we’re looking for

• Strong writing. You can write clearly and compellingly, and you can rewrite someone else’s work without losing their voice.
• Curiosity: You can elicit Aric’s ideas even if he hasn’t articulated them yet.
• Good editorial instincts. You can read a draft and identify what’s working and what isn’t with specificity. “This section is boring” is less useful than “this section is boring because we’re explaining the mechanism before the audience has a reason to care.”
• Comfort with the subject matter. You don’t need to be an AI safety expert, but you need to be able to engage seriously with technical and philosophical arguments about AI risk.
• Reliability and follow-through. Being able to consistently be available for support when needed
• Context on AI risk or ability to learn quickly. You don’t need to know about AI risk when you start, though it will help. More important is that you can acquire the basic understanding quickly through talking to people, watching videos, reading papers, etc.

Experience with scriptwriting, journalism, editing, or similar work is a bonus.

Logistics

This is a contract role. The time commitment is roughly 3-4 hours/day for 3-4 weeks per quarter, during the intensive scriptwriting phase. Full days can also be valuable. The rate is $30-60/hour depending on experience.

Bay Area and in-person is preferred, but we’re open to remote candidates.

This role reports to Chana Messinger (Head of Video) and works directly with Aric Floyd (Associate Video Producer).

Other roles you might be interested in (you’re welcome to apply to more than one):

If you’d be excited by a similar role focused on operations, prioritization, and communications support rather than writing, you might be a fit for our Executive Assistant role.

If you’d want to do all of this — writing, project management, and executive support — as a full-time, in-person Bay Area role, take a look at our Operational Partner role.

Note: If we successfully hire for the Writing Support role, we’d also be interested in hiring for the Executive Assistant role. If we successfully hire an Operational Partner, we’d be much less likely to hire for Writing Support or an Executive Assistant, since we’d expect that role to cover those functions.

How to apply

To apply, please complete this application form by 11:00 PM PT on Monday, May 25, 2026.

The assessment process will vary depending on the roles you selected, but will include two rounds of work tests, an interview, and a full day or multi-day assessment. We pay for work tests and the full/multi-day assessment, conditional on location and right to work in the country where you are taking the assessment. If we are unable to compensate you, we offer donations in lieu of payment to an effective charity of your choice.

We’re aware that factors like gender, race, and socioeconomic background can affect people’s willingness to apply for roles for which they meet many but not all the suggested attributes, and would especially like to encourage people from under-represented backgrounds to apply, even if you don’t meet all the suggested criteria.