Job Description

The Senior Director of Technology Enablement & Partnerships will lead VERSANT’s AI Enablement function within the Innovation & Emerging Technology organization. This role is responsible for accelerating the practical application of AI across the enterprise spanning all Corporate groups, Product, Engineering, and Editorial teams by translating rapidly evolving capabilities into scalable, technically sound, and high-impact workflows.

A critical dimension of this role is partnering closely with VERSANT’s News, Sports, and Entertainment editorial organizations to embed AI into daily content workflows and core publishing systems. This includes identifying opportunities to integrate AI into CMS platforms, content creation pipelines, and editorial decision making in ways that enhance speed, quality, and creativity while maintaining editorial integrity.

This leader will serve as the company’s central authority on applied AI usage, including LLM-based tools, copilots, and agent frameworks ensuring employees can effectively and responsibly leverage these technologies in their day-to-day work.

Unlike traditional change or communications roles, this position is deeply grounded in the technical realities of modern AI systems and software development practices. The role

requires fluency in how AI tools integrate into engineering and content workflows, including prompt engineering, agent design, automation patterns, and developer-adjacent tooling.

As a senior leader within Innovation & Emerging Tech, this role will build and scale an AI enablement ecosystem combining hands-on guidance, reusable assets, internal communities, and strategic partnerships to drive measurable improvements in productivity, content velocity, and innovation across VERSANT.

Responsibilities

**AI Enablement Strategy & Execution **

· Own and evolve VERSANT’s AI enablement strategy, focused on embedding AI capabilities into real workflows across business, technical, and editorial teams.

· Drive adoption of enterprise AI tools and platforms (ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, etc) with a focus on practical, high-value use cases.

· Define and standardize best practices for prompt engineering, agent design, and human-in-the-loop workflows.

· Develop scalable frameworks for how teams evaluate, adopt, and operationalize new AI capabilities.

· Partner closely with engineering, product, and data teams to align enablement efforts with technical architecture and development practices.

**Editorial & Content Workflow Integration **

· Partner with News, Sports, and Entertainment editorial teams to identify and implement AI-driven enhancements to content creation, editing, research, and publishing workflows.

· Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to integrate AI capabilities directly into CMS platforms and content systems.

· Develop use cases and patterns for AI-assisted research, content production, metadata generation, and audience optimization ensuring alignment with editorial standards and brand integrity.

· Provide hands-on guidance to editorial teams on effective and responsible use of AI tools in daily workflows.

**Technical Enablement & Capability Building **

· Lead the creation of hands-on, technically grounded enablement assets, including playbooks, reference architectures, reusable prompts, and agent templates.

· Oversee internal programs that emphasize applied usage including workshops, labs, hackathons, and build sessions.

· Establish guidelines and patterns for integrating AI into workflows such as coding, content creation, analysis, and operations.

· Stay at the forefront of AI advancements and translate emerging capabilities into actionable opportunities for the business.

**AI Community & Champions Network **

· Build and lead a company-wide AI Champions network composed of practitioners and evangelists across functions, including Corporate, Editorial, Product, and Engineering.

· Foster a culture of experimentation and knowledge sharing through hackathons, innovation sprints, and internal showcases.

· Create feedback loops from power users and teams to continuously refine tools, practices, and enablement approaches.

· Mentor and develop a small team of direct reports responsible for content creation, program execution, and enablement support.

**Governance, Risk & Technology Evaluation **

· Act as a key member of VERSANT’s AI technology evaluation process, vetting new tools, platforms, and vendors for enterprise use.

· Partner closely with Cyber, Legal, Privacy, and Procurement teams to ensure compliant, secure, and responsible adoption of AI technologies.

· Help define guardrails, policies, and usage standards that enable innovation while mitigating risk.

· Evaluate tools through a technical and operational lens, including integration feasibility, data handling, and scalability.

· Provide visibility into adoption, usage patterns, and business impact of AI initiatives.

Technology Partnerships

· Define and manage a portfolio of both internal and external partnerships that support AI enablement and innovation goals.

· Collaborate with internal platform teams (CMS, collaboration tools, developer platforms) to embed AI capabilities into core systems.

· Own relationships with external AI vendors and partners, ensuring alignment on priorities, delivery milestones, and outcomes.

· Translate partner capabilities into internal implementation patterns, accelerators, and scalable solutions.

· Serve as a senior technical liaison between VERSANT teams and external partners to drive meaningful outcomes.

Qualifications

Qualifications

· 10+ years of experience in technology, innovation, or developer-adjacent enablement roles, with increasing leadership responsibility.

· Strong hands-on understanding of modern AI systems, including LLMs, prompt engineering, copilots, and agent-based workflows.

· Familiarity with software engineering practices, APIs, and content platform architectures (CMS systems) and how AI integrates into them.

· Experience partnering with editorial, content, or media production teams to embed AI into workflows is highly preferred.

· Proven ability to translate complex technical capabilities into scalable, repeatable workflows that drive business impact.

· Experience leading enterprise-wide adoption of new technologies, particularly in fast-evolving domains.

· Demonstrated success building communities of practice, internal networks, or enablement programs.

· Experience working cross-functionally with Engineering, Product, Security, Legal, and business stakeholders.

· Strong strategic thinking combined with a willingness to be hands-on in rapidly evolving environments.

· Experience in media, broadcast, or digital publishing environments is strongly preferred.

· Experience building or scaling AI or emerging technology programs is strongly preferred

Additional Requirements:

• Hybrid : This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week.

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: $200,000 - $235,000 (bonus and long-term incentive eligible)

We are accepting applications for this position on an ongoing basis.

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.__