Manager, Product (On-Air Scheduling and Distribution)

Versant Media’s Content and Operations group is seeking a Manager, Product (Content and Operations) to lead our On-Air Scheduling and Distribution teams. This role will report to the Director of Content and Operations and will oversee a team of Product Owners and specialists focused on ensuring that scheduled content makes it to air accurately, on time, and in compliance with rights, format, and distribution requirements.

The Manager will serve as a subject matter expert in broadcast and cable scheduling workflows, leading the definition and delivery of product capabilities that bridge strategic scheduling intent with operational execution. This includes tooling for real-time scheduling updates, format compliance, traffic fulfillment, playout readiness, and downstream metadata delivery. In this role, you’ll partner closely with engineering, program operations, media logistics, and playout vendors to deliver platforms that are reliable, intelligent, and ready for next-gen automation.

You will own the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for your domain and guide a cross-functional team to design, build, and scale solutions that unify workflows, reduce manual effort, and enable on-air scheduling and distribution across Versant’s content supply chain.

Core Responsibilities

• People Leadership & Coaching – Hire, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of Product Owners; create an environment that fosters collaboration, ownership, and continuous growth.
• Domain Strategy & Vision – Define the product strategy and roadmap for on-air scheduling and distribution, aligning platform evolution with business needs and operational goals.
• Workflow Integration – Partner with scheduling, traffic, and operations stakeholders to ensure seamless handoffs across planning, formatting, playout triggering, and metadata delivery.
• AI & Automation Enablement – Embed intelligent automation into operational workflows, including anomaly detection, predictive playout readiness, and dynamic rules enforcement.
• Delivery Oversight – Drive end-to-end delivery across your portfolio, facilitating quarterly planning, sprint execution, and delivery milestones while removing roadblocks.
• Operational Resilience – Champion robust instrumentation, alerting, SLAs, and governance controls that ensure broadcast-grade reliability and compliance.
• Stakeholder Communication – Provide clear, executive-ready updates on product direction, roadmap progress, and delivery risks; co-lead customer and vendor conversations as needed.
• Legacy Modernization – Lead the migration away from legacy traffic tools toward modular, cloud-native solutions; partner with architecture and engineering on system design.

Basic Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Media, Product Management, Operations, or a related field.
• 8+ years in digital or broadcast media environments, including 3+ years leading product teams or agile squads.
• Hands-on experience with broadcast scheduling, playout workflows, or traffic operations.
• Proven ability to manage products that operate at scale, under SLAs, and with high operational sensitivity.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills, especially across technical and operational stakeholder groups.
• Comfort with Jira/Confluence, broadcast traffic systems and operational analytics tools.

Desired Characteristics:

• Strong technical fluency with the ability to engage deeply with engineering and architecture teams—able to interpret system designs, discuss implementation tradeoffs, and contribute meaningfully to technical planning conversations.
• Familiarity with metadata governance, downstream partner requirements, and dynamic playout rules.
• Experience migrating from legacy traffic or broadcast management systems to modern platforms.
• Certifications such as CSPO, SAFe POPM, or PMP are a plus.
• Deep empathy for operational users and a passion for building tools that reduce complexity at scale.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts (e.g., LLMs, embeddings) and curiosity in applying them to enhance product workflows or embed intelligent behaviors into systems—such as test generation, metadata enrichment, or anomaly detection.

Additional Requirements:

• On-site Expectations: This position has been designated as needing to be in the office 2 - 4 times a month based on business needs.
• This role will require quarterly on-site collaboration weeks in New York City (NY) and Englewood Cliffs (NJ). Limited travel (<10%) to broadcast, vendor, or operations centers may be required.

This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks. Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website. Salary range: $140,000 - $175,000 (bonus eligible)

We are accepting applications for this position on an ongoing basis.

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal'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, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access nbcunicareers.com as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by emailing work@tuhustle.com.

Although you'll be hired as an NBCU employee, your employment and the responsibilities associated with this job likely will transition to Versant in the future. By joining at this pivotal time, you'll be a part of this exciting company as it takes shape.

For LA County and City Residents Only: NBCUniversal 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.

NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our theme parks and consumer experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, USA Network, and Peacock, our premium ad-supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Universal Studio Group, and have world-renowned theme parks and attractions through Universal Destinations & Experiences. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Our impact is rooted in improving the communities where our employees, customers, and audiences live and work. We have a rich tradition of giving back and ensuring our employees have the opportunity to serve their communities. We champion an inclusive culture and strive to attract and develop a talented workforce to create and deliver a wide range of content reflecting our world.

Comcast NBCUniversal has announced its intent to create a new publicly traded company ('Versant') comprised of most of NBCUniversal's cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. The well-capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. The spin-off is expected to be completed during 2025.