Production Director

About Us: Straight Arrow News is dedicated to delivering unbiased, comprehensive news coverage that cuts through the noise of national discourse. We prize stories that make the news feel real and relevant to our audiences’ daily lives. Check us out at www.san.com and on the SAN mobile app.

About this role:

SAN is seeking an experienced Production Director to lead and optimize production and multimedia operations in Omaha. This is a senior-level role focused on maximizing efficiency, creating and managing budgets, and mentoring emerging production leaders. The ideal candidate is a strategic operator with vast experience leading production and editing crews, managing budgets and schedules, and seeing projects from idea to distribution.

This role is critical to ensuring SAN’s video and audio content is produced on time, on budget and with operational excellence. This person will identify total costs associated with different content types and deliverables and will work closely with the Chief Content Officer to establish and maintain budgets, content planning, and production execution.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the head of production in Omaha, overseeing day-to-day operations and long-term planning.
• Build and manage production and staffing schedules. 
• Develop and maintain rate sheets and cost structures for all visual products. 
• Implement systems for production accounting: Forecast, plan and track production budgets for both in-house and contracted work.
• Create and refine workflows to enhance team efficiency and improve output quality.
• Establish standard procedures for production processes, vendor management and asset delivery.
• Identify, budget for and negotiate project management and asset management programs, along with other applicable tools, to maximize efficiency at the company. 
• Ideate and actualize multimedia products designed for different distribution channels.  
• Provide hands-on mentorship to production leads and coach team members on operational best practices, leadership and accountability. 

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in production operations, with at least 4 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record in budgeting, production accounting and cost management.
• Strong operational mindset with experience building scalable systems and workflows.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills with a passion for mentoring. 
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Familiarity with media production tools and scheduling platforms.
• Experienced in multiple creative production environments, from digital to broadcast to podcasting.
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with creative, revenue and executive teams.
• Omaha-based or willing to relocate; This is an in-office leadership position.

Compensation & Benefits:

• The salary range for this position is $100,000-$120,000.
• Straight Arrow News offers comprehensive health and wellness coverage that ensures our employees have the care and coverage they need to stay healthy, build current and future financial security and maintain work-life balance. All full-time employees and their dependents are eligible to enroll in our benefits. That includes generous paid time off, paid holidays and floating holidays; health coverage, vision and dental plans; retirement plans like the company's 401(k) plan with company match; and more.  

Straight Arrow News is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees, regardless of race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status.