Manager, Strategic Operations (AJC)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a leading metro news organization with a rich journalism history, seeks a Manager of Strategic Operations to support strategic and business operations. This is a new role and new discipline for the AJC, and we are looking for an eager builder who is ready to jump in, meet the organization where it is, to establish and execute excellent strategies that enable us to set and meet our ambitious growth goals as one team. This role will work across the AJC as we transform from a storied newspaper into a modern media company.
In partnership with the Director, Strategic Operations, this role leads the strategic and business operations, enabling leadership to establish and evolve strategic direction for the AJC. This team lives at the intersection of all AJC teams and is responsible for understanding how the work of all teams affect one another. The Strategic Operations team establishes the processes and mechanisms by which we will have early warning signs of work being on/off track long before we see the results in our business metrics.
Please note: This person must be based in Atlanta, GA.
In this position, you will:• Execute the strategic operations framework to ensure cross-functional teams are aligned to the overall strategic goals of the business. The person in this role will partner with cross-functional team leaders in advising, setting, and managing their OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to completion. This role will gather critical inputs including subscription and user models, marketing performance, audience analytics, content strategy, etc., that will inform the team during OKR planning.• Manage OKR tracking and evaluation across multiple cross-functional teams. This role will manage and evolve systems, processes, and excellence in using OKRs to create a line of sight into all work and the ability to detect early warning signs of work off track well ahead of having any effect on business outcomes. The person in this role will be responsible for leveraging best practices, seeking feedback, and evolving our OKR discipline with the leadership team.• Manage weekly and monthly mechanisms to evaluate business performance, audience performance, progress to work, and support teams to take action towards overall business goals. This role will liaise with multiple teams to identify and tee up key insights that positively affect metrics and business outcomes. This role is responsible for surfacing business insights, leading agreed upon actions to execution, and tracking the associated impact of those actions.• Manage AJC documentation and tooling (program, projects, processes) across departments and cross functional teams including output of work, stakeholder documentation, OKR documentation and actions, curation of assets, 3rd party processes, business continuity planning, and SharePoint management.• Manage AJC business information sharing across departments and cross-functional teams, including output of work, key calendar moments of product, marketing, and sales and subscriber event launches, and leadership reviews. This role will not only gather and be the centralized source of information but also ensure the appropriate information is shared across teams and in the right spaces.• Manage short-term and long-term project management initiatives, track progress, design work plans and dependencies, mitigate risks, provide statuses, manage stakeholder escalations and expectations, and ensure on-time delivery. This role will work in partnership with all departments and functions within AJC to achieve business goals for a particular project.
Education:
To qualify for the Strategic Operations Manager role, you need one of the following:• Bachelor's degree plus 6 years of relevant experience including at least 3-5 years of experience in operations management or project management roles
and at least 1 year in a lead or management type position OR a Master's plus 4 years of relevant experience, including at least 1 year in a lead or management position OR 10 years of relevant experience (no degree required)
Qualifications:• Demonstrated experience in operational and process management best practices, frameworks, and tools.• Experience implementing and working with OKRs and KPIs.• Ability to lead cross-functional teams without direct authority.• Proven ability to build deep trusted partnerships across internal and external teams.• Demonstrated ability to lead teams using project management methodology.• Ability to merge strategic planning with operational execution.• Proven ability to effectively balance short-term and long-term needs.• Ability to evaluate multiple solutions to any challenge.• Strong project management skills.• Process management and systems thinking.• Proactively identifies problems, poses solutions, and implements action plans and schedules.• Demonstrated ability for critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative solutions.• Impeccable written and verbal communication skills.• Empathy and high emotional intelligence (EQ).• Resourceful and mature operator.• Attention to detail and excels in timely delivery and execution.• Experience working with data and insights and presenting business insights.
USD 90,100.00 - 150,100.00 per year
Compensation:
Compensation includes a base salary of $90,100.00 - $150,100.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.
Benefits:
The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company's needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.
Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship.