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Vice President of Operations, Interactive Division

CA - Irvine

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Opportunity Snapshot

You'll be a pivotal member of the "ground floor" team launching the new and highly energetic Interactive Division of one of the nation's largest media companies. In fact, if you're a good fit for this dynamic team, you won't be satisfied with merely "launching" -- you'll look forward to unleashing the Division on the interactive market. In addition to sharing in the challenge and satisfaction of helping transform what is currently a newspaper and broadcast company into an interactive media powerhouse, you'll be in a position to take advantage of the "upward draft" of opportunity created by that transformation.

In essence, your mission will be to manage a large number of projects and activities and ensure we realize the vision we've laid out for the Division. This will include driving our project priority list so that we achieve targeted implementation timelines for all operations and product deliveries. We're looking for a professional with at least five years of online or publishing operations experience at the Director or VP level. This position offers the opportunity for a second-in-command at a larger organization to move into the number one spot, or for a number one at a smaller company to step up to a $1 billion company. One way or the other, you'll need a proven ability to keep a "lot of balls in the air" and deliver results.

While you might not recognize the Freedom Communications name, the interactive world soon will -- and you'll help make that happen. We are the 14th largest media company in the nation, comprised of newspapers, broadcast television stations, and interactive media businesses. We publish 28 daily and 37 weekly newspapers, with a combined daily circulation of more than 1.2 million subscribers. Our eight-station broadcast division includes five CBS and three ABC network affiliates.

What Else You'll Bring to the Table

In addition to the qualifications outlined above, you'll need:

A bachelor's degree; MBA preferred
10+ years of experience managing the operations of an online or publishing company, including overall product strategy development, content acquisition, and website development, with at least five years at Director level or above
Internet savvy with strong knowledge of website production technologies, extensive contacts in the online space, and in-depth experience monitoring and evaluating industry trends
Solid management experience and a track record in motivating and building teams and in mentoring and developing direct reports
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build working relationships across all levels of an organization
Excellent oral and written communications skills and project management capabilities

What's in It for You

High visibility -- this division is one of FCI's major corporate initiatives for the next few years, and the Board of Directors and CEO will follow your successes with interest.

The "best of two worlds" -- you'll enjoy the entrepreneurial vigor of a true start-up atmosphere, but also the stability and resources of $1B Freedom Communications.

Career growth -- "growth" is the operative word here; not only will the position itself grow under your leadership, but also the Division will grow, both organically and via acquisition. Your success in this role could set you up to pursue a number of opportunities throughout Freedom Communications.

Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive base and generous incentive plan, we offer a comprehensive benefits package including all that you would expect as well as a few features that might pleasantly surprise you.

Shaping a New Interactive Division

We anticipate tremendous success in this new venture (a significant revenue stream already is flowing from online activities) and you'll contribute to strategies that will change the way Freedom attracts and understands consumers. This Division will act as a centralized resource for all of our business units as well as leading corporate-wide initiatives.

Overall the business units are eager for the support and tools the Division will provide. At the same time, everyone in the Division will be a change agent, and you'll need to motivate and influence others to align with the overall vision as well as your own strategies and tactics. Entering the interactive market at this point in time means we won't make the mistakes that others have, but it also will challenge you to create strategies and processes that will distinguish us from our competition.

More About Your Role

Reporting to the Division President, you'll serve as a key member of the executive team that sets the division's strategic direction. In addition to directing the Division's operations, one of your main objectives will be to develop a cohesive, professional team to support strategy and operational goals. While the precise makeup of the Operations team will evolve over time, we expect that it will include a Director of Ad Operations, Traffic Managers, a Sales Operations team, and Media Technicians.

You'll interact with just about everyone in the Division, as well as with operations and content people in the local business units to minimize duplication and ensure smooth integration of Division and local operations. You'll also interface with external partners.

Your specific activities will include:

Directing Interactive Division operations to meet budget and other financial goals.
Serving as liaison to the IT department and working with the CIO to ensure that website development is on time and site operations are working smoothly.
Managing all timelines for product development, content development, and strategic partnerships.
Ensuring that all ad operations are functioning smoothly and that Freedom's advertising revenue opportunities are maximized.
Managing day-to-day operations to support a superior customer experience and to incorporate new features and offerings into websites throughout Freedom.
Identifying and executing strategic partnerships to acquire compelling content, features, and online tools that support the website strategy.
Tracking and analyzing site traffic to understand customers' usage patterns and trends, conducting competitive analysis of other websites, and assessing content and emerging technologies to continually inform the content strategy and foresee new trends.
Directing short-term and long-range planning and budget development to support strategic business goals.

You can expect to travel nationally up to 20% of the time in this role.

Keys to Success

In order to be an outstanding VP of Operations, you will:

Take a proactive, life-long-learner approach to maintaining your industry and product knowledge.
Leverage the tactical skills to execute on our vision and achieve your goals.
Demonstrate a high degree of self-motivation, holding yourself to high standards.
Bring excellent organizational skills, including follow up as well as time and resource management abilities.
Possess exceptional leadership abilities, including initiative, a willingness to mentor others, and a strong teamwork orientation.
Be a self-assessor, understanding what makes you good at what you do, and constantly taking steps to build on strengths and improve on weaknesses.

If this sounds like the right mix of challenge and opportunity for you, and you meet the minimum qualifications, we want to hear from you!

Who We Are

Freedom Communications, Inc (FCI) was officially established in 1950 but our roots reach back to 1935, when Publisher R.C. Hoiles acquired the Santa Ana Register, the first of many media businesses that would make up FCI. Today we are a privately owned diversified media company with an employee base of over 7,000.

Freedom Communications is in the midst of an exciting period of growth and transformation. We continue to innovate by looking for new business opportunities through a mix of acquisitions and internal growth, developing our Interactive business, and pushing the envelope in online, on-air, and print media delivery.