News Operations Manager, MS NOW

Job description

We’re looking for a New York-based Operations Manager to help build the future of MS NOW. This is not a traditional operations role. This person will have an explicit mandate to help MS NOW become the most modern live media organization in the world, while supporting, sustaining and scaling the tremendous growth the brand has already seen as part of Versant. We’re looking for a rare combination: someone who understands how live news actually gets made, loves being close to the people doing the work, and is equally excited about building what comes next. You might spend one morning helping solve a live production problem, the afternoon prototyping a new newsroom tool using Codex, and the next day working with editorial, product, engineering, or production teams to turn that idea into something people can actually use. The right person is curious, creative, hands-on, and comfortable experimenting. You should want to roll up your sleeves, try things, build things, fix things, and occasionally break things in a controlled environment so we can make them better. Just as important, we want someone who brings energy into the room, builds trust quickly, has a low ego, and understands that changing how people work is as much about relationships and culture as it is about technology. This position is based in New York with regular opportunities to travel to MS NOW and Versant facilities, productions, bureaus, and major events. Responsibilities Serve as a dedicated operational partner to MS NOW editorial, production, digital, and technical teams. Work directly with journalists, producers, editors, control rooms, field teams, and leadership to understand how work actually gets done and where it can be improved. Identify recurring pain points, outdated workflows, manual processes, and opportunities to make teams faster, smarter, and more creative. Translate between editorial needs and technical teams Build strong relationships across editorial, production, engineering, product, facilities, and technology teams. Develop simple documentation, playbooks, training, and onboarding materials so successful workflows can scale. Help teams adopt new tools and ways of working, recognizing that successful transformation depends on people, not just technology. Create lightweight applications, dashboards, automations, workflow tools, and proof-of-concepts that allow teams to test ideas quickly before committing to larger development efforts. Experiment with AI-enabled workflows across areas such as news gathering, production, transcription, metadata, research, clipping, publishing, planning, and live television. Support the day-to-day operational needs of MS NOW, including live productions, breaking news, digital video, remote productions, special coverage, field operations, and major events. Help modernize workflows across linear television, streaming, digital, social, and emerging platforms. Test new technologies in real production environments and gather direct feedback from the people using them. Travel to MS NOW and Versant locations as needed to understand workflows firsthand and support productions, pilots, and major initiatives. Jump in wherever necessary. If something needs to get done, this person should be comfortable helping figure it out. Qualifications 5+ years of experience in newsroom operations, television production, digital media, production management, live events, product operations, or a related field. Strong understanding of how live news and media organizations operate. Experience working in fast-moving editorial, production, control room, digital, or field environments. Demonstrated ability to identify problems, simplify complicated workflows, and turn ideas into practical solutions. Hands-on interest in AI tools, including Codex or similar AI-assisted development platforms, and a willingness to use them regularly to prototype solutions. Comfort experimenting with new technology without waiting for every answer to be known in advance. Strong operational instincts and the ability to distinguish between an interesting technology and something that will actually help people do their jobs. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with an ability to build trust across editorial, creative, technical, and executive teams. Ability to move comfortably between strategic conversations and hands-on execution. Strong judgment under pressure and the ability to manage multiple priorities during breaking news and major productions. Willingness to travel and occasionally work nights or weekends around breaking news, major events, launches, and live productions. Preferred Experience working across both linear television and digital-first media. Experience with newsroom and production systems such as iNews, Avid, Adobe Creative Cloud, LiveU, MAM platforms, CMS platforms, or similar tools. Experience building prototypes, automations, internal tools, dashboards, or lightweight applications, either traditionally or using AI-assisted development tools. Familiarity with AI-enabled production, transcription, search, metadata, content management, or newsroom automation. Experience helping teams adopt new technologies or significantly change existing workflows. Experience working across multiple locations, bureaus, studios, or field productions. 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. 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 . 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. VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass.