Editorial Consultant

About Ergo

Ergo is a nonprofit that films structured lecture courses with eminent scholars and publishes them free online, without ads or paywalls. Philosophy and the humanities produce some of the most important thinking in the world, but academic work tends to stay within academic circles. Ergo exists to close that gap — bringing rigorous, substantive ideas to anyone willing to engage with them.

The Role

We are looking for someone with deep fluency in philosophical thinking — someone who can follow a difficult argument wherever it leads — to support our lecture courses from shoot to final cut. On set, you'll serve as a script supervisor tracking content changes and following the argument closely enough to know when something needs a retake. In post, you'll review edited cuts and flag moments where an edit has broken the logic or flow of the lecture. Our editing approach is intentionally restrained: we are not restructuring lectures, but refining them. This is a part-time freelance engagement — roughly one intensive week on set per course, followed by a few hours a week during the editing period.

What You’ll Do

On set during filming:

• Serve as script supervisor — tracking takes, retakes, and any changes to lecture material during the shoot

• Follow the intellectual content closely enough to flag when a retake may be needed due to a gap or inconsistency in the argument

• Liaise with the director and crew to ensure continuity of both production and content

In post-production:

• Review edited cuts of lectures for clarity, coherence, and logical flow 

• Flag moments where an edit has disrupted the logical flow or argument of the lecture

• Weigh in on occasional editorial decisions, such as whether a passage is clear enough to stand on its own or whether a cut breaks the coherence of the course

What We’re Looking For

• Advanced graduate training in philosophy (PhD or ABD strongly preferred)

• Strong grounding in analytic philosophy — you should be comfortable with philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and adjacent areas

• Genuine intellectual curiosity and the ability to follow a rigorous argument in real time

• Clear, precise communication — you will need to articulate editorial concerns to a director and video editors, not just other philosophers

• Based in New York City, or able to be present in NYC for shoot weeks

Bonus

• Background in philosophy of mathematics or formal logic (we have courses in this area)

• University teaching experience

• Writing for public or general intellectual audiences

• Any familiarity with film or video production

Compensation

Competitive freelance rate, commensurate with experience. We are a nonprofit and will be transparent about what we can offer. We believe this role offers something genuinely rare: sustained engagement with first-rate philosophical minds, meaningful creative work, and a chance to help build something that will reach a wide audience.

To Apply

Send a resume and a brief note (no more than one page) addressing the following: which philosopher or philosophical idea do you think deserves a wider audience — and why? We are reviewing applications on a rolling basis and moving quickly.

Send applications to: [email protected]