Lead Partnership Operations

The Washington Post; United States; On-site; USD 92,000 - 153,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Pension and 401(k) match

Vacation and sick leave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

The Washington Post seeks an experienced leader to own partnership operations, turning strategic opportunities into scalable, repeatable programs. You will align cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance and Marketing to deliver launches with governance and measurable outcomes.

You will translate commercial goals into practical implementation plans, create launch-ready playbooks, and drive continuous improvement in partnership execution and operational efficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a related field.
• 5+ years in business operations or related strategic operations.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional implementation from planning to launch.
• Strong ability to translate business objectives into operational requirements.
• Experience collaborating with Product and Engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational planning for strategic partnership launches with roadmaps and governance.
• Translate commercial objectives into scalable operational and technical plans.
• Drive cross-functional implementation across Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Marketing, and Analytics.
• Identify integration requirements, data dependencies, and risks for new partnerships.
• Develop executive dashboards and governance reports for leadership.

Skills

Business operations

Partnership operations

Technical program management

Implementation management

Product operations

Cross-functional collaboration

Agile methodologies

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Operations, Engineering, CS or related field

Tools

Jira

Asana

Smartsheet

Job description

Join the future of news We’re on a mission to deliver riveting storytelling for all of America. At The Washington Post, you’ll help reinvent news. Our work is driven by a deep investigative spirit and enhanced by innovation to bring audiences closer to the stories that matter most.

About Our Team

The Washington Post is powered by the passion and talent of our people. It takes all of us to reinvent news. Beyond our award-winning News and Opinions teams, we work across many departments, including Brand & Events, Communications, Customer Care, Engineering & Product, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing & Advertising, Print Operations, and Sales.

Why This Role Matters

Serves as the operational leader responsible for transforming partnership strategies and commercial agreements into scalable, repeatable, and successful business implementations. Enables The Washington Post's growth by establishing the operating models, governance, and implementation discipline required to launch and sustain strategic platform partnerships, AI licensing initiatives, subscriptions, content distribution agreements, and emerging business opportunities. Bridges commercial strategy, technical implementation, and operational execution by aligning cross-functional teams around shared priorities, clear accountability, and successful delivery. Creates scalable partnership operations that improve speed to market, reduce execution risk, and support sustainable revenue growth across the Partnerships portfolio. Advances The Washington Post's transformation by designing operational capabilities that enable new partnership models in an evolving media, technology, and AI landscape.

What Motivates You

You are energized by turning complex business opportunities into structured operational plans that drive measurable results. You enjoy solving ambiguous operational and technical challenges by bringing clarity, organization, and execution discipline to cross-functional initiatives. You thrive at the intersection of business strategy, technology, and operations, helping diverse teams move together toward common objectives. You are motivated by building scalable systems, governance models, and repeatable processes that improve organizational effectiveness. You enjoy collaborating with technical and business leaders to translate commercial objectives into practical implementation plans. You are excited by emerging technologies, evolving media business models, and the opportunity to help shape how partnerships create long-term value for The Washington Post. You take pride in continuously improving how work gets done and removing barriers that prevent successful execution.

How You'll Support the Mission

Lead operational planning for strategic partnership launches by establishing implementation roadmaps, governance structures, milestones, dependencies, and accountability frameworks that enable successful execution across the partnership portfolio.

Translate commercial partnership objectives into scalable operational and technical implementation plans that align business goals with execution requirements and accelerate time to market.

Drive cross-functional implementation efforts across Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Audience, Data & Analytics, Advertising Operations, and other business teams to deliver successful partner launches and operational readiness.

Lead technical discovery activities that identify integration requirements, content delivery workflows, data dependencies, platform access needs, operational constraints, and implementation risks, ensuring informed planning and successful delivery.

Evaluate operational and technical approaches for new partnership opportunities—including AI licensing, content distribution, subscriptions, podcasting, video, and emerging revenue models—to ensure solutions support long-term commercial objectives.

Establish implementation governance processes that proactively identify risks, manage dependencies, coordinate decision-making, and improve visibility across concurrent partnership initiatives.

Design scalable operating models, implementation playbooks, launch templates, documentation standards, and workflow processes that improve execution consistency and reduce operational complexity across future partnership launches.

Optimize partnership operations by identifying process bottlenecks, ownership gaps, technical constraints, and recurring execution challenges, implementing improvements that increase organizational efficiency and delivery quality.

Develop executive-ready implementation dashboards, status reporting, and governance communications that provide leadership with timely visibility into launch progress, risks, priorities, and strategic decisions.

Champion continuous operational improvement by evaluating emerging technologies, automation opportunities, and best practices that strengthen partnership implementation capabilities and support sustainable business growth.

The Skills and Experience You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Operations, Engineering, Computer Science, Project Management, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 5+ years of experience in business operations, partnership operations, technical program management, implementation management, product operations, consulting, or a related strategic operations function.
• Demonstrated success leading complex cross-functional implementation initiatives from planning through launch while managing competing priorities, dependencies, and organizational stakeholders.
• Strong ability to translate commercial business objectives into operational requirements, technical implementation plans, governance models, and scalable execution frameworks.
• Experience working closely with Product and Engineering organizations and the ability to communicate effectively between technical and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated expertise designing operational processes, governance frameworks, implementation playbooks, workflow documentation, and scalable business systems.
• Strong systems-thinking and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify implementation risks, operational dependencies, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Excellent project management, stakeholder management, communication, and organizational skills with the ability to influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Experience supporting technical integrations, digital platforms, SaaS products, content distribution, subscriptions, advertising technology, media technology, or related digital ecosystems is preferred.
• Experience working with AI licensing, platform partnerships, digital publishing technologies, APIs, or emerging technology partnerships is preferred.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and project management platforms such as Jira, Asana, Smartsheet, or similar collaboration tools is preferred.
• Experience creating executive presentations, implementation dashboards, governance reporting, and launch-readiness documentation is preferred.
• High degree of ownership, adaptability, sound judgment, and intellectual curiosity with the ability to thrive in a fast-moving, evolving business environment.

Collaboration makes us stronger. That’s why our offices are designed with open layouts, modern technology, and easy access to transportation. With certain exceptions for newsgathering and business travel, we work on-site five days a week.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
• Company-paid pension and 401(k) match
• Three weeks of vacation and up to three weeks of paid sick leave
• Nine paid holidays and two personal days
• 20 weeks paid parental leave for any new parent
• Robust mental health resources
• Backup care and caregiver concierge services
• Gender affirming services
• Pet insurance
• Free Post digital subscription
• Leadership and career development programs
• Benefits may vary based on the job, full-time or part-time schedule, location, and collectively bargained status.

The salary range for this position is: $91,800 - $153,000 Annual The actual salary within this range will depend on individual skills, experience, and qualifications as they relate to specific job requirements. This position may be eligible for a bonus or incentive program, and a member of the Talent Acquisition team will discuss bonus payment terms and conditions during the interview process.