Special Projects Director, SB Nation

The core responsibility of the Director of Special Projects is to oversee sponsored initiatives and other projects, in collaboration with our network development, editorial and operations teams. To accomplish this, they serve as a primary editorial liaison with the development and revenue teams. Secondary responsibilities include writing, editing, and helping produce stories for these packages.

WHO WE ARE

SB Nation is the largest independent sports media brand, consisting of SBNation.com, Secret Base, MMAFighting, OutSports and more than 280 fan-centric team communities.

SB Nation is part of Vox Media, the leading modern media company. We guide our audience from discovery to obsession. We inspire essential conversations about what’s now, what’s next, and what’s possible.

As a community of journalists and storytellers, business professionals, creators and technologists, we believe it is a moral and business imperative to amplify voices: to cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our organization and media. This applies to our candidates, our teams, our storytelling, our creative work, and our platforms, products, and partnerships.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Develop and lead special projects (as determined with Head of Content and League Directors)
• Ensure editorial content remains true to SB Nation brand and voice
• Manage and track special projects’ budget, including COS-driven projects, alongside Sr. Manager of Community & Special Project Operations
• Collaborate with SB Nation leadership to develop the overall brand editorial calendar
• Lead cross-team brainstorms for new initiatives, including editorial packages, sponsorships, and brand licensing projects
• Work closely with leadership and talent across leagues, dotcom, net dev and product teams to provide additional editorial support, ranging from editorial advising to editing one-off stories
• Help identify other new areas of sports coverage SB Nation should pursue, starting with women’s sports. 
• This effort will begin with the execution of our women’s sports editorial strategy, working closely with SB Nation leagues that already cover women’s sports.
• Serve as editorial liaison and development lead for brand licensing projects, along with owning or project managing all content output 
• Act as NetDev’s first point of contact for proactive pitches and developing new ideas, initiatives, and experiential projects that are not tied to a specific RFP
• Serve as SB Nation editorial lead for client meetings and brainstorming sessions
• Have visibility on all RFP asks dropped in approval room, weighing in on cross-department sponsorship asks
• Work cross-functionally to find efficiencies and foster collaboration between teams, weighing in on staffing and resourcing
• Lead internal team comms on all special projects

WHO YOU ARE

Our ideal candidate is entrepreneurial, creative, flexible and fearless. SB Nation is looking for a strategic partner to help implement new processes and assist in rapid growth, hiring and change. This person can easily identify a classic SB Nation angle but also ideate swiftly around new ways to present a tried and tested story. They have strong management experience and are not afraid to lead large and diverse teams with grace and grit.

The Special Projects Director will lead our continued expansion into new formats, platforms and coverage while collaborating closely with design, social, sales, video, and other teams to experiment with new types of storytelling. They balance SB Nation’s editorial and creative ambitions with company priorities, budgets, revenue, and resourcing. The Special Projects Director reports to the Head of Content.

• 8+ years of experience in digital media, social, print, writing/editing, and journalism
• Experience with setting content strategy, creating packages and managing/mentoring a team
• Ability to stay ahead of trends and adapt to a constantly changing digital landscape
• Strong communication skills, especially in brainstorm sessions with clients and internal stakeholders
• Ability to write and edit clean, witty, accurate copy on tight deadlines
• Strong familiarity with social media
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing, collaborative team environment
• Must be willing and able to work evening and weekend hours as needed
• If you think you have what it takes, but don't meet every single point in our job posting, please apply with a cover letter to let us know how you believe you can bring your unique skills to the Vox Media team or get in touch! We would love to have a chat and see if you could be a great addi