Content Operations Strategy Manager, CNN

Your New Role

The Content Operations Strategy Manager serves as a strategic and operational partner to the VP of Content Operations, helping to shape, communicate, and execute a unified content operating model across CNN. You will play a central role in building and reinforcing the overarching strategic narrative that ties together workflow modernization, portfolio planning, cross-functional alignment, and day-to-day execution across a large, matrixed content ecosystem.

You will combine business strategy, structured problem-solving, storytelling, and operational rigor to help CNN scale streaming-first, multiplatform content production. You will work across editorial, product, technology, growth, marketing, data, finance, and commercial teams to support new ways of working, create clarity, and drive performance.

Role Accountabilities

• Strategic Narrative, Insights & Executive Communication
• Closely partner with the VP of Content Operations to develop and maintain the enterprise-wide content operations narrative that brings strategic priorities to life.
• Craft executive-ready presentations, briefings, and materials that simplify complexity and influence senior leaders.
• Convert operational data, performance trends, workflow observations, and partner inputs into compelling stories that guide decision-making.
• Maintain and evolve core documentation that reinforces strategic clarity, including operating principles, strategy briefs, FAQs, and playbooks.
• Operational Strategy & Enterprise Planning
• Support the development of multi-platform operating models, content governance frameworks, and decision-rights structures.
• Work with the VP and cross-functional partners to translate content strategy into quarterly and weekly operational plans, connecting missions, resourcing, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Contribute to prioritization mechanisms such as content medaling, portfolio reviews, and cross-team workflow forums.
• Support structured intake and evaluation of new content initiatives, surfacing implications, risks, and resource needs.
• Execution of Strategic Initiatives
• Help structure, analyze, and run cross-functional projects that accelerate content workflows, improve operational discipline, or unlock new growth opportunities.
• Conduct data-driven analysis to understand cycle time bottlenecks, resource gaps, production inefficiencies, and multi-platform performance.
• Partner with Product, Tech, and Operations to identify workflow improvements, automation opportunities, and tooling enhancements that enable frictionless execution.
• Support development and rollout of content optimization standards, experimentation frameworks, and performance feedback loops.
• Governance, Forums & Operating Rhythms
• Prepare materials and recommendations for content planning, MBRs and QBRs, and operational reviews.
• Ensure decisions, dependencies, risks, and next steps are clearly documented and circulated.
• Build repeatable templates, dashboards, and frameworks that improve the efficiency and clarity of cross-functional forums.
• Reinforce the integration of performance, audience, and experimentation insights across all touchpoints.
• Cross-Functional Partnership & Influence
• Build trusted relationships across Global News, Enterprise, Longform, Media Operations, Growth, Marketing, Product, Tech, Data, Finance, and Brand.
• Anticipate and escalate risks early; help unlock blockers across teams by providing clarity, context, or recommended pathways.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; advanced degree a plus.
• 3–5+ years in strategy, operations, consulting, digital media, or relevant analytical roles.
• Prominent ability to analyze complex information, structure ambiguous problems, and synthesize insights for leadership.
• Strong written, visual, and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing C-level materials.
• Facility with data, including dashboards, KPIs, and experimentation results, and ability to translate metrics into recommendations.
• Experience collaborating across matrixed teams and managing competing priorities.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Nice to Haves:
• Experience in streaming, digital publishing, multiplatform media, or newsroom operations.
• Background in operating model design, organizational transformation, or change adoption.
• Familiarity with content production workflows, newsroom systems, CMS tools, automation, or audience measurement platforms.
• SQL, Tableau or Looker, or data visualization experience, with comfort manipulating and interpreting data.
• Experience supporting senior executives or partnering directly with leadership.
• Exposure to subscription models, Free and Pay execution, or experimentation-driven cultures.
• Ability to anticipate second-order effects and connect decisions to broader strategic priorities.
• Comfort operating with incomplete information and shaping clarity for others.