VP of Programming

About Us

The Athletic is a direct-to-consumer digital sports media company committed to helping subscribers experience storytelling in a whole new way. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Francisco, The Athletic has more than 575 full-time employees and covers more than 250 professional sports and collegiate teams in the US, Canada and the UK. The Athletic’s newsroom has produced thousands of in-depth articles along with more than 120 podcasts and premium video content.

The Athletic is seeking a VP of Programming. This is a senior role that will help us build out our global programming team and manage the distribution of our content across all of our channels, leveraging data to inform content curation, scheduling, packaging, and promotion. The ideal candidate will have managed an effective content programming team, have experience working cross-departmentally with editorial colleagues, and have defined and executed against programming strategy. This position will provide strategic guidance and oversight to our social, alerts, and content programming teams. 

Responsibilities

• Provide oversight of Company’s global content programming process and strategy
• Define content programming strategy, owning the entire distribution chain from packaging to end user distribution
• Design a set of operational performance KPIs across the entire team and execute against it
• Develop and maintain a consistent and engaging tone of voice consistent with the Company’s ethos
• Hire and train the team across our global operations
• Provide day-to-day management of programming team
• Coordinate weekly programming priorities in conjunction with our editorial and content ops teams
• Contribute to the growth of the business and servicing of the Company’s subscribers and overall audience

Requirements

• 5-10 years of experience in digital programming, including at least five years of departmental management
• Ability to think and plan strategically along the Company’s core objectives, while taking account of operational constraints
• Significant content programming background with strong competency across the content chain, including content production, packaging, and promotion 
• Excellent people management skills and experience managing teams
• World-class communication skills with comfort working on cross-functional initiatives
• Proven track record in building and delighting digital audiences
• Deep understanding of existing and emerging social platforms as a promotional resource
• High-end knowledge of major professional, international, and collegiate sports

The Company is backed by Founders Fund, Evolution Media, Courtside Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Bedrock Capital, Advancit Capital, Y Combinator, and other leading investors. The Athletic is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The Athletic was awarded a 2020 Great Place to Work.

The Athletic Media Company is an equal opportunity employer and enthusiastically encourages people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply. The Athletic will consider all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.