Director of Production

This is a Full Time Job

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.