Production Manager (Video Specialist)

Position Title: Production Manager (Video Specialist)

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

Office Location: Oakland, CA (hybrid role, up to 20% remote)

Starting Compensation: $75,000 - 90,000 (Depending on Experience)

About Us

YouthBeat is a registered 501c(3) organization, providing free digital media training to underserved Oakland youth. Our mission is to help students achieve their dreams and succeed — in school, career, and life.

Students earn school credit for our courses and can advance into professional internships and apprenticeships, gaining real-world experience producing video and photography content for local companies and nonprofits.

We operate in close partnership with the Oakland Unified School District (“OUSD”), and education station KDOL, using OUSD studio space, equipment and offices to deliver our programs.

Position Summary

The Video Production Manager leads the day-to-day delivery of YouthBeat PRO client projects. This role guides projects from client intake, scoping, and estimates through pre-production, production, post-production, delivery, and follow-up. The manager helps translate clients’ marketing objectives into clear creative approaches and production plans, keeps clients informed, coordinates creative producers and production crews, tracks schedules and budgets, and ensures each project meets its brief and quality standards.

A central part of the role is helping lead YouthBeat PRO’s on-the-job apprenticeship experience. Apprentices and young adult crew members should contribute meaningfully to real client projects, develop professional skills, and receive clear supervision and feedback as they prepare for careers in media.

This is a production and client-services management position. It does not own YouthBeat’s organizational branding or marketing campaigns, and it is not responsible for generating leads or leading business development. The manager will participate in client conversations and prepare project scopes and estimates for prospective and current clients once an opportunity has been identified by YouthBeat leadership or a partner.

Key Responsibilities:

Client service and project scoping

• Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for assigned YouthBeat PRO clients from project kickoff through final delivery.
• Lead discovery and scoping conversations to understand client goals, audience, deliverables, timeline, budget, approvals, and production needs.
• Translate client marketing objectives and needs into clear, scopes of work, estimates, production plans, and schedules, using YouthBeat’s pricing and approval guidelines.
• Meet with clients to explain proposed creative approaches, production options, and tradeoffs; confirm expectations and document decisions, approvals, and changes.
• Support presentations of scopes, estimates, and creative solutions for opportunities brought forward by YouthBeat leadership or partners.
• Keep clients updated on progress, surface risks early, and respond to feedback with professionalism and care.
• Coordinate reviews, revisions, approvals, delivery, and project closeout; gather client feedback and identify opportunities to strengthen service and project practices.

Production planning and delivery

• Manage project workflow across pre-production, production, post-production, and final delivery.
• Build and maintain practical project plans, calendars, crew assignments, budgets, and deliverable trackers.
• Coordinate scripts, treatments, shot lists, locations, releases, equipment, call sheets, production logistics, and other project requirements.
• Lead or assign productions based on project needs, crew capacity, and learning goals; provide hands-on production support when appropriate.
• Coordinate editors, producers, freelancers, vendors, and internal staff to keep work moving and maintain continuity across project phases.
• Review work at key milestones for alignment with the approved brief, technical quality, accessibility requirements, and YouthBeat PRO standards.
• Track project costs, staff and apprentice hours, change requests, and scope; communicate budget or schedule risks promptly and recommend solutions.
• Maintain organized project files, footage, releases, client approvals, and delivery records in YouthBeat’s designated systems.
• Lead post-project reviews to capture lessons, client feedback, and examples of completed work where client permissions allow.

Team and apprentice supervision

• Supervise and support a growing team of creative producers and project crew, setting clear roles, expectations, and communication practices.
• Plan apprentice participation so that client needs, production safety, and meaningful learning experiences are all supported.
• Give apprentices clear assignments and preparation, explain production workflows and professional standards, and provide timely feedback during and after projects.
• Coordinate with YouthBeat’s workforce and education staff on apprentice readiness, learning goals, attendance, performance concerns, and support needs.
• Work with workforce and education staff to connect project assignments to apprenticeship learning goals and help apprentices build skills for future creative employment and independent work.
• Promote a respectful, inclusive, and safety-conscious set culture, including clear conduct expectations and appropriate adult supervision.
• Contribute to hiring, onboarding, crew development, and performance feedback for YouthBeat PRO production staff, in coordination with organizational leadership.

Production operations and quality

• Maintain consistent project-management practices, templates, checklists, and handoffs from initial scope through final delivery.
• Monitor workload and production capacity; recommend staffing, scheduling, or workflow adjustments when demand exceeds available capacity.
• Help leadership understand project status, resource needs, delivery risks, and service patterns through timely and accurate reporting.
• Support continuous improvement in client service, production quality, crew coordination, and the integration of apprentices into client work.
• Follow YouthBeat policies and applicable requirements for contracts, insurance, releases, youth protection, workplace safety, data handling, and recordkeeping.

The manager is accountable for reliable project execution and accurate project information. YouthBeat executive leadership retains responsibility for organizational revenue targets, pricing policy, lead generation, and business development. Project margin goals, where applicable, will be set by leadership and assessed in light of the manager’s authority over scope, staffing, and costs.

Qualifications:

Required

• At least five years of professional experience in video production, advertising, creative agency work, or a comparable field, including responsibility for coordinating projects from planning through delivery.
• Experience communicating directly with clients, partners, or stakeholders and translating their needs into clear scopes, schedules, and video deliverables.
• Strong working knowledge of pre-production, production, and post-production video and multimedia workflows, including crew coordination and review cycles.
• Experience tracking project timelines, budgets, deliverables, and changes across multiple concurrent projects.
• Experience leading, supervising, or mentoring creative staff, freelancers, interns, apprentices, or other early-career team members.
• Clear written and verbal communication, strong organization, sound judgment, and the ability to address problems early and constructively.
• Commitment to YouthBeat’s mission and to creating supportive, high-expectation learning and work environments for Oakland youth.

Preferred

• Experience producing client-facing commercial, nonprofit, educational, or community media.
• Experience with youth workforce development, apprenticeships, or other paid learning models.
• Familiarity with production budgeting, estimates, contracts, releases, insurance requirements, and production safety practices.
• Experience with project-management and production tools such as Asana, Monday.com, Frame.io, Adobe Creative Cloud, or comparable platforms.
• Knowledge of Oakland and the Bay Area’s creative community and production resources.
• Bilingual or multilingual skills relevant to YouthBeat’s communities.

YouthBeat is an equal-opportunity employer committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Applicants will be considered without regard to age, race, religion, sex/gender, or any other demographic consideration. We encourage individuals from underrepresented communities to apply.