Senior Program Manager, The Athletic
$95-105k
Subscription based publisher of sports content
Be an early applicant
Subscription based publisher of sports content
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$95-105k
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To produce smarter coverage for die-hard fans and redefine the way fans get access to sports content by flipping the normal model for sports journalism.
Role
Who you are
- BA/BS degree in a related field or equivalent work experience
- 5–7+ years of relevant program management experience, preferably in a media or publishing environment with significant pre-sale involvement
- Proven track record managing integrated advertising programs from concept through delivery
- Experience collaborating with content studios on custom branded content campaigns
- Strong understanding of creative production processes for digital, video, audio, print, experiential, and live events
- Ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment
- Skilled in budget management, contract negotiation, and vendor coordination
- Exceptional communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills
- Extreme attention to detail and quality
- Passion for sports and The Athletic’s mission
What the job involves
- As a Senior Advertising Program Manager on The Athletic’s Commercial team, you will be an expert collaborator responsible for executing innovative, integrated custom advertising programs for our partners
- You’ll work closely with Sales, Strategy, Planning, Audio, Editorial, Social, Product, Marketing, Business Development, PR, and T Brand Studio to bring compelling, strategic, cross-platform programs to life — driving revenue across all sports verticals
- You will serve as the primary point of contact for our clients and internal teams from concept through execution, ensuring projects run on time, on budget, and at the highest quality
- You’ll be equally adept at managing complex branded content initiatives and large-scale, integrated programs that include digital, audio, print, experiential, and live event components
- A successful candidate thrives in a fast-paced environment, anticipates challenges, communicates clearly, and consistently delivers exceptional results for both clients and internal stakeholders
- Lead and manage integrated advertising programs from pre-sale through post-sale
- Serve as the primary point of contact for clients and agencies, ensuring all deliverables are on track, within scope, and aligned with client objectives
- Develop project scopes, timelines, budgets, and staffing plans in partnership with cross-functional teams and external vendors
- Oversee production workflows for branded content, digital, print, audio, experiential, and live event campaigns
- Build and maintain project delivery trackers, proof-of-delivery documents, and campaign recaps
- Manage project budgets in collaboration with Revenue Operations, ensuring healthy margins and timely billing
- Identify and mitigate potential risks to projects or the business
- Build and maintain strong client relationships through clear communication, effective meeting leadership, and thoughtful problem-solving
- Partner with Sales, Strategy, and Creative teams to translate client objectives into actionable, executable plans
- Advocate internally for client needs and ensure obligations are met
- Provide strategic and consultative advice to clients throughout the campaign lifecycle
- Act as the go-to resource for all production-related matters on assigned programs
- Ensure consistent adoption and use of project management tools across teams
- Share learnings and best practices from past programs to improve future work
- Collaborate with leadership to refine processes, optimize workflows, and scale operations
- Align production resources, balancing quality standards with budget requirements
- Engage in early-stage concepting with creative and strategy teams to shape ideas that are both innovative and executable within budget and timeline constraints
- Recommend production approaches that maximize impact while meeting project requirements
Our take
The Athletic provides authentic, in-depth coverage written by journalists who know the teams they write about inside out. Its model bucks the trend of traditional sports journalism outfits by asking for a subscription rather than relying on ad-revenue.
Despite initial doubts that users would be willing to pay for sports journalistic content, the Athletic has found significant success and was acquired by the New York times in 2022.
This collaboration was criticised at the time by investors who believed that the Athletic was undersold. However, despite The Athletic operating at a loss since the takeover, it's clear that the New York Times perceives the subscription magazine as a long-term investment, predicting that it will be operating at a profit within the next 4 years. This will be aided by accelerated customer growth and the growing trend of subscription-based sports news.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Jan 2020
$50m
SERIES D
May 2019
$21.8m
SERIES C
Total funding: $139.5m
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Adam Hansmann
(President & Co-Founder)Previously a McKinsey Business Analyst and then Associate at Calera Capital.
Alex Mather
(CEO & Co-Founder)Vice President at startup building a community for athletes called Strava before founding The Athletic
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