Senior Manager, Strategic Operations & AI Enablement

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. We are seeking a Senior Manager, Strategic Operations & AI Enablement to lead the evolution of how work strategically scales across the Digital Platforms & Ventures division. This role is responsible for designing scalable operational systems, driving AI-enabled innovation, and transforming complex business needs into streamlined, intelligent workflows that improve efficiency, collaboration, and business outcomes. This is not a traditional project management role. Success is measured by the ability to redesign business processes, modernize operations through AI and automation, and build scalable systems that empower teams to work smarter and more effectively. The Senior Manager, Strategic Operations & AI Enablement supports all verticals, all brands and all groups within the Versant Digital Platforms & Ventures division, including such products as GolfNow, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, and more. Are you ready to flex your skills and join our fun, dynamic, award-winning team? Please submit any relevant work samples or a portfolio alongside your resume and application to demonstrate your experience and abilities! Responsibilities: AI & Operational Innovation Champion an AI-first approach to operational excellence across the organization. Identify repetitive, manual, or inefficient workflows and redesign them using AI, automation, and intelligent process design. Build, train, test, and optimize AI assistants, prompts, automations, and operational agents that improve team productivity. Evaluate emerging AI technologies and recommend scalable solutions that create measurable business impact. Develop governance, best practices, and standards for responsible AI adoption across business teams. Workflow Architecture & Systems Design Design scalable operational workflows that support creative, marketing, print, digital, and cross-functional initiatives. Translate business needs into standardized, repeatable workflows that improve efficiency, visibility, and execution. Create operational frameworks that reduce manual effort while increasing quality and consistency. Continuously optimize existing workflows based on analytics, stakeholder feedback, and evolving business priorities. Serve as the organization's subject matter expert for workflow strategy and operational design. Project Intake & Operational Planning Own the DPV project intake process from request through operational readiness. Assess incoming work for completeness, resource requirements, workflow alignment, and strategic prioritization. Convert business requests into scalable operational workflows rather than one-off project plans. Partner with stakeholders to define requirements before work enters execution. Ensure work is routed efficiently through standardized operational processes. Platform Strategy & Integrations Own strategic administration and evolution of operational platforms including Asana, PageProof, Salesforce integrations, Jira, and future technology solutions. Design and implement integrations between business systems to eliminate duplicate work and improve data flow. Partner with O&T and vendors to evaluate, implement, and optimize new technologies. Build automation strategies that reduce manual touchpoints across systems. Develop scalable operational infrastructure supporting future business growth. Data, Intelligence & Continuous Improvement Leverage operational data, AI insights, and workflow analytics to identify optimization opportunities. Develop dashboards and reporting that measure operational health, workflow efficiency, adoption, and business impact. Establish KPIs around automation, cycle time reduction, resource utilization, and process effectiveness. Drive a culture of continuous improvement through experimentation and iterative optimization. Training & Change Enablement Lead organizational adoption of AI tools (ChatGPT, Codex, etc.), workflow platforms, and operational best practices. Develop training programs, documentation, playbooks, and self-service resources. Coach teams on maximizing AI capabilities within their daily workflows. Serve as a trusted advisor helping teams rethink how work gets done through technology. Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and operational excellence. Qualifications/ Requirements: Bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university preferably in Marketing, Sales, Project Management or Communications 5+ years of project management experience, preferably within marketing, production, digital-first environments Proficient with project management tools a must, experience with Asana a plus Mac OS skills and knowledge of Adobe Creative suite, typing & math skills with a command of Word & Excel Understanding of marketing, branding, and consumer psychology Willingness to work a hybrid 3-day schedule in a hub office Consistent, regular, and punctual attendance required Desired Characteristics: Extremely detail-oriented and highly organized Strong accountability and desire to be the one ultimately responsible for getting things done right, the first time, on time Is comfortable working in a group environment and possesses strong interpersonal skills Takes initiative and is self-motivated Knowledge of sports and movies a plus Ability to work effectively with management and executive leaders An ability to multitask and perform under tight deadlines within this fast-paced environment Confident and professional video conferencing and phone presence Strong verbal and written communication skills Punctual, regular, and consistent attendance 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 [email protected] . 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.