Freelance Podcast Director

We are looking for a news-aware and politically immersed Podcast Director to take editorial ownership of series 2 of Nesta’s The Policy Fix podcast, an 8-episode series running from September to December. Hosted by Nesta, the research and innovation foundation, The Policy Fix explores bold ideas and radical policy thinking to help drive the country forward. Each episode brings together fresh perspectives from industry, academia, media and government to untangle some of the UK’s knottiest social problems.

Working closely with our host and technical producer, you will shape the content and narrative direction of the show; planning episodes, securing and briefing guests, guiding the primary edit and shaping impactful social cuts.

• Political and editorial direction: Lead planning of episode topics with a sharp eye on the current media and news agenda, identifying the most interesting, newsworthy and rich policy angles that will bring the Policy Fix voice into the news mix.
• Guest booking and outreach: Leverage your contacts book to secure high-profile, attention-grabbing guests from government, Parliament, Whitehall, and think tanks who bring fresh perspectives and established audiences.
• Narrative structuring: Map out the narrative arc of each episode, defining the key policy questions, the political terrain to cover, how to draw out the most newsworthy insights and how to reflect both sides of an argument to ensure interesting and engaging conversations.
• Host and guest briefing: Produce comprehensive, high-quality, intellectually rigorous briefing for our podcast host, Joe Owen, and the guests prior to recording, in order to secure the richest and most compelling conversations.
• Content directing: Sit in on recordings to direct from a content perspective (ensuring the discussion hits the key political and policy narrative points), and collaborate with our technical producer, Jonah, in the edit to guide the final structure and identify the best soundbites for social cuts.
• Editorial: Write compelling copy about each episode that can be recut for multiple marketing channels.
• Cross-team collaboration: Work with the wider comms team to extract news angles for press/written content, to maximise our marketing impact, and to progress the creative direction to elevate the look and feel of the podcast.

• Pitching our host for guest appearances and promo-swaps on other political/policy podcasts.
• Wider strategic consultancy on podcast marketing and audience growth.
• Using podcast platform analytics to develop the most appropriate metrics to evaluate success, and to understand performance relative to adjacent competitor products.
• Providing consulting input on other media and policy products we are developing.

You’ll be deeply familiar with politics and policy. You instantly know the difference between a fresh, insider angle on a policy topic and old news that has been endlessly covered, and be comfortable getting to grips with multiple policy topics. You’ll be an experienced content producer – maybe a broadcast journalist, Westminster researcher, think-tanker, or public policy broadcast producer with a track record of developing and building content products like podcasts.

Network: You possess a strong, active and trusted network of contacts across government, Whitehall, Westminster and the wider policy landscape. You know who to call to get the right people on our podcast.

To note: Technical production, filming, audio engineering and editing are covered by our producer. We also have project management and production support in place. The focus of this role is entirely on content and programming.

To express your interest in the role, please send a cover letter outlining your experience and suitability as well as your CV to information@nesta.org.uk by Friday 17 July. Please include details on your day rate and availability within your cover letter.