Director, Program Management

Job Description

The Director, Program Management leads the planning and execution of complex technology initiatives supporting digital platforms and content supply chain products. This role ensures predictable, high-quality delivery across systems powering digital publishing, content management, monetization, analytics, and audience engagement. Partnering closely with Engineering, Product, Editorial, Data, Ad Operations, and IT, and reporting to the Senior Director, Platform Strategy, the Director drives structured execution, cross-functional alignment, risk management, and launch readiness in a fast-paced, digital-first environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of technology initiatives supporting digital publishing platforms, video and content metadata ecosystems, audience products, data platforms, and monetization systems.
• Develop and maintain integrated program plans, timelines, milestones, and dependency tracking across engineering, product, editorial, and operations teams.
• Drive structured execution governance including roadmap reviews, delivery checkpoints, risk management, issue tracking, and executive reporting.
• Ensure alignment between technical delivery timelines and business priorities, product launches, and revenue objectives.
• Lead readiness planning for major feature releases, platform migrations, system upgrades, and high-traffic events.
• Identify and mitigate cross-team dependencies and risks that could impact platform stability, performance, or launch schedules.
• Establish and continuously improve delivery processes, tooling, reporting frameworks, and documentation standards.
• Lead and mentor a team of scrum leads and project managers, fostering accountability, transparency, and disciplined execution.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for delivery challenges affecting timelines, quality, or operational continuity.

Qualifications

• Experience in technical program management, project management, or delivery leadership roles.
• Proven experience delivering complex digital platform initiatives in a media, technology, or consumer-facing organization.
• Strong expertise in program planning, roadmap execution, dependency management, and risk mitigation.
• Experience partnering with cross-functional teams including engineering, product, editorial/content, ad operations, and data.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Excellent communication, executive reporting, and stakeholder management skills.
• PMP, PgMP, or similar project management certification

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in digital news or media organizations
• Familiarity with newsroom or digital publishing workflows
• Experience supporting video platforms or live digital events
• Experience supporting sports or large-scale event coverage
• PMP, PgMP, or similar project manage

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

For LA County and City Residents Only: VERSANT Media will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to candidateaccessibility@versantmedia.com.

VERSANT Media is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc.

VERSANT Media is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at VERSANT via-email, the Internet, or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from VERSANT's Talent Acquisition team will be deemed the sole property of VERSANT. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by VERSANT as a result of the referral or through other means.