Creator In Residence - Instagram

About the role

HeyGen is hiring a Creator in Residence to own short-form Instagram content and bring consumer-grade viral instinct to the team. The job is to create content yourself, on camera and behind it, shape the overall direction and review of our Instagram series, and hold the taste bar.

HeyGen makes it possible for anyone to produce studio-quality video with AI avatars, in any language, without a camera. Millions of people have made videos with it, and the product moves fast: new avatar models, new formats, new ways to be on screen ship constantly. What we have not yet built is a feed presence that makes people stop scrolling. 

In a way, you are the creative director for short-form videos on Instagram. You are not a producer taking briefs, and you are not behind the camera only: you are on it too, as a recurring face of HeyGen's Instagram, and as the human the avatars play off. You are the single DRI for Instagram short-form, and you are measured on whether the content hits.

What you'll do

• Own Instagram short-form end to end. You are the DRI for reels: what we make, how often, what it looks like, and whether it worked. Set the editorial calendar, the formats, and the bar.
• Bring viral sensibility to the team. Dissect what is spreading on Instagram each week: formats, sounds, pacing, hooks. Turn that into formats we can run, and teach the team to see what you see.
• Be on camera. You are one of the faces of HeyGen's Instagram. Film yourself, host formats, react, riff, and put your own personality in the feed. Your avatar will be in the daily series too.
• Direct talent, human and avatar. Coach founders, teammates and creators on camera. Write and direct for avatars so they read as a character, not a demo.
• Experiment on a schedule. Ship a new format every week, read the numbers, keep what hits, cut what does not.
• Make the final creative call. Approve or kill every piece before it ships. When the team disagrees, you decide. Taste is your job, and you are accountable for it.
• Report on performance. Own reach, shares, saves and follower growth on Instagram. Know why a post worked and say so.

Who you are

• You have made things go viral, repeatedly. A portfolio of short-form videos with real reach, on your own account or a brand's. One hit is luck; we want a pattern.
• You have consumer instincts, not B2B ones. You know what a 19-year-old shares with a friend at midnight. You have built an audience of 50k+ on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, or run an account that did.
• You have taste, and you can defend it. You can say why a cut is wrong in one sentence. You hold a bar and other people can feel it.
• You are comfortable being the decider. You have led a team or a crew and made calls that other people executed. You do not need to touch every frame to own the result.
• You live in the feed. You know this week's sounds, formats and hooks before they peak, and you can tell a trend from a fad.
• You are good on camera and you can direct. On-camera talent, founders, and avatars. You write for performance and know how to get a take.
• You edit well enough to fix the last 5% yourself. CapCut, Premiere or similar. You do not need to be the fastest editor on the team, but you need to see what the editor missed.
• You read numbers without flinching. Reach, shares, saves, retention curves. You change what you make based on what they say.
• 3+ years making short-form content for social, with at least some of it in a brand or team setting.

Bonus points

• You have made AI-generated or avatar-led content that people did not scroll past
• You have built a recurring series or character that an audience came back for
• You have grown a brand account from zero in a crowded category
• You have created for a startup, a tech product, or the creator economy

How this role works

We run creative on a 15/80/5 model, and this role sits at both ends of it.

Phase	Share of the work	Who	What happens
Concept	First 15%	You, deep in it	Hook, premise, format, casting, the reason anyone would watch
Production	Middle 80%	Team executes	Shooting, avatar generation, editing, captions, scheduling
Final call	Last 5%	You, back in it	Review every cut, fix what is close, kill what is not, approve what ships

You are the DRI for Instagram short-form. That means one name on the result, not a committee. You will work closely with brand, product marketing and the avatar team, and you will have editors and producers to execute. The creative call is yours.

What success looks like in the first 90 days

• The avatar daily series is live, consistent and growing week over week
• Instagram reach and shares are up measurably from the day you started
• At least one format has clearly broken out and become a repeatable franchise
• The team can name the three things you changed about how we judge creative

Why HeyGen

• The most interesting tool a creator has ever had. You will make content with avatars, voices and formats that did not exist a year ago, and you will have the people who build them down the hall.
• Real creative authority. You make the call. No creative review by committee, no six-week approval chain.
• A product people already love. You are not inventing demand. You are showing millions of people what is possible in a way they cannot ignore.
• A team that ships. We move at the speed of the feed and we expect you to pull us faster.
• Competitive salary, equity, health coverage, and the equipment you need. Hybrid in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

HeyGen considers factors such as scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, as well as location, market and business considerations when extending an offer. 

HeyGen is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Join us at HeyGen and be part of a team that's making visual storytelling accessible to all!