Director - DTC Partner Operations, MS NOW

Company Description

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.

Job Description

Reporting to the Sr. Director, DTC Business Operations, the Director of DTC Partner Operations will own the strategy and senior relationship layer of MS NOW’s growing growth and community partnerships portfolio. This role defines which partners we pursue, owns enterprise and executive-level relationships, and builds the frameworks and standards the team executes against.

The Director will lead the DTC Partner Operations team, represent the function in cross-functional planning conversations and ensure the portfolio is delivering against MS NOW’s business goals.

The ideal candidate is a strategic operator who can develop and own senior relationships, think clearly about where to focus the business, and build the operational foundation a growing partnerships team needs to scale.

Responsibilities:

• Define the DTC partner outreach strategy — including target segments, priority partners, and sequencing
• Own senior and executive-level relationships with key partners and high-priority enterprise targets not covered by dedicated partner teams
• Directly manage the DTC Partner Operations Managers, setting priorities, providing coaching, and ensuring effective execution
• Serve as the senior partnerships voice in cross-functional planning with Marketing, Content, Product, and Legal
• Oversee the health of the full ongoing partnerships portfolio — tracking performance, identifying gaps, and recommending adjustments
• Establish and maintain the operational standards, frameworks, and reporting systems the team uses to run the portfolio
• Partner with cross functional teams on pipeline development; ensure clean handoffs as new partnerships are greenlit
• Resolve blockers and drive alignment on decisions that require senior-level intervention or cross-functional escalation
• Contribute to DTC business planning as partnerships become a larger driver of member growth

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in partnerships, business development, or partner operations, with at least 2 years managing direct reports
• Proven track record owning senior and enterprise-level external relationships
• Strong strategic thinking — can define a target landscape, prioritize, and build a plan to pursue it
• Experience building or managing operational systems and frameworks for a partnerships or BD function
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to align stakeholders across marketing, content, product, and legal at a senior level
• Clear communicator and credible partner to both internal leadership and external executives
• Experience in subscription, media, or consumer-facing businesses is a plus
• Experience scaling a partnerships function from early stage is a plus

Additional Job Requirements: 

• Must be willing to work in New York, NY.
• Must have unrestricted work authorization to work in the United States. 

This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks.  

Salary Range: $145,000 - $185,000, bonus eligible.

Additional Information

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 candidateaccessibility@versantmedia.com.

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.