The Opportunity

The Manager, Production & Technical Operations is a key member of Versant’s Production Operations team, responsible for the day-to-day operational leadership and execution of live productions. Reporting to the Senior Director, Production Operations, this role leads studio and control room operations personnel and helps ensure productions are appropriately staffed, operationally prepared, and successfully executed.

Serving as a primary operational leader during live production, you will coordinate production personnel and work closely with Editorial, Engineering, Broadcast Operations, NOC/MOC, Facilities, and other partners to maintain production readiness and address operational challenges in real time. You will bring strong knowledge of live television workflows, technical production roles, represented and freelance labor, and the demands of a fast-moving broadcast environment.

Why This Role Matters: Reliable live production depends on teams, technology, and workflows coming together at exactly the right moment. This role helps make that happen. Through proactive staffing, operational planning, decisive leadership, and strong cross-functional partnership, the Manager helps protect the quality and continuity of Versant’s live programming while building a high-performing Production Operations team.

This is a required on-site position primarily based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The role may also require work from Versant’s New York production facilities and periodic travel to other locations based on production needs. Because Versant operates across a dynamic live-production schedule, flexibility is required and assignments may include days, evenings, overnights, weekends, holidays, and short-notice coverage.

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $120,000–$135,000, plus eligibility for a bonus.

What You'll Do

• Lead live production operations: Provide day-to-day operational leadership across assigned studios and control rooms, ensuring productions are appropriately staffed, prepared, and executed to Versant’s production and technical standards.
• Drive operational readiness: Anticipate staffing, workflow, resource, and technical needs for daily programming, breaking news, special events, and high-profile productions, identifying and escalating risks before they affect air.
• Manage crews and production resources: Lead staff and freelance production professionals, partner with scheduling teams on crew assignments, address coverage or skill gaps, and make real-time staffing adjustments as production requirements evolve.
• Coordinate through live-production challenges: Serve as a key operational decision-maker during broadcasts, partnering with Editorial, Engineering, Broadcast Operations, NOC/MOC, Facilities, and production teams to resolve issues quickly and minimize disruption.
• Develop teams and strengthen performance: Coach and develop Production Operations personnel, establish clear expectations, identify training opportunities, support onboarding, and build deeper operational and technical capability across the team.
• Improve how we operate: Partner with the Senior Director, Production Operations and cross-functional stakeholders to strengthen staffing models, workflows, procedures, documentation, training, and the adoption of new production technologies and operating models.