About the job
Your New Role
The Director of Production leads all aspects of production strategy and execution for CNN Brand Marketing across networks and platforms. This role oversees a diverse mix of content acquisition and post‑production for promotional campaigns across the digital and linear portfolio.
Your Role Accountabilities
Production Leadership & Oversight
- Supervise internal and external productions, from small‑scale social shoots to large‑scale film and photography projects.
- Manage project coordination to ensure timely, on‑budget delivery across all initiatives.
- Lead a multidisciplinary team including resource managers, post‑production managers, project managers, and assistants.
Budget & Resource Management
- Own and manage the department’s annual production budget.
- Create monthly financial forecasts and allocate resources across campaigns and platforms.
- Oversee hiring and contracting of external agencies, production companies, and post‑production vendors.
Legal & Licensing
- Draft, review, and manage legal documentation including MSAs, SOWs, NDAs, and releases.
- Oversee licensing of third‑party assets such as music, footage, photography, and fonts.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
- Partner with PR, Sales, Studios, Legal, Talent, and Brand teams to drive projects through rigorous review and approval processes.
- Collaborate across departments to streamline workflows and enhance output for integrated, digital, and social content.
- Partner with studios and filmmakers to produce licensed clips featuring CNN journalists for feature films and TV series. Drive projects through rigorous review process across Brand, PR, S&P, Legal, Talent and Collections teams.
Strategic Communication & Reporting
- Generate weekly status reports for executive leadership including the Chief Global Marketing Officer, SVP, and VP.
- Monitor editorial calendars and programming grids to anticipate production needs and adapt to changes.
Awards & Recognition
- Oversee submissions for industry awards including News & Documentary Emmys, Clios, and GEMAs.
Team Development & Hiring
- Interview and hire candidates as needed.
- Foster team growth through training, process improvement, and cross‑functional collaboration.
Qualifications & Experience
- 10+ years of experience in marketing production, creative operations, or integrated marketing, with at least 5 years in a leadership role overseeing teams and large‑scale production workflows.
- Demonstrated success managing end‑to‑end production for multi‑channel marketing campaigns (digital, print, social, experiential, video).
- Strong expertise in project management methodologies, production timelines, resourcing, traffic management, and budget oversight.
- Oversee department’s legal coordination including drafting, redlining, negotiating and executing agreements for licensing and production‑related activities.
- Proven ability to collaborate and build relationships with creative, brand, media, product and external agency partners to ensure on‑time, high‑quality execution.
- Solid understanding of creative production tools, asset management systems, and MarTech platforms (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, Workfront, Asana, Airtable, DAM systems).
- Experience implementing or scaling process improvements, workflow optimization, and production best practices.
- Ability to manage and negotiate with vendors, freelancers, and production partners, including sourcing, contracting, and quality control.
- Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with the ability to prioritize and pivot in a fast‑paced environment.
- Excellent leadership, coaching, and team development capabilities.
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to influence senior leadership and cross‑functional stakeholders.