Principal Media Operations Manager

horizonmedia; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Horizon Media is seeking a Manager, Principal Buying Operations & Process Transformation to strengthen the processes, systems, controls, reporting, and training that support Media Exchange (MX). The role partners with Media Investment, Operations, Billing, Client Finance, Technology, and external platforms to translate business needs into practical workflows and system solutions.

You will identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, support readiness, and drive ongoing process

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, IS, or related field.
• Experience: 8–10 years in business operations, media operations, or agency finance.
• Skills: Strong process mapping, requirements documentation, workflow design, and root-cause analysis.
• Knowledge: Familiarity with billing cycles, vendor costs, and financial controls.

Responsibilities

• Map and standardize MX workflows from ideation to close.
• Identify bottlenecks, control gaps, and design scalable procedures.
• Maintain SOPs, process flows, and operating documentation.
• Support governance, audit readiness, and contract compliance.

Skills

Process mapping

Requirements documentation

Workflow design

Root cause analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Communications, or related field

Job description

Job Description

Who We Are

Horizon Media , founded in 1989 by Bill Koenigsberg, is recognized as one of the most innovative marketing and advertising firms. We are headquartered in New York City, with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. A leader in driving business solutions for marketers, Horizon is known for its highly personal approach to client service. Renowned for its incredible culture, Horizon is consistently named to all the prestigious annual Best Places to Work lists published by Fortune, AdAge, Crain's New York Business and Los Angeles Business Journal. Together we are building a place of belonging.

At Horizon, we understand the value that different perspectives can bring to our clients and culture, so we strive for an environment where our employees feel welcomed, safe and empowered. We value YOU and believe that your authentic voice and unique perspective allows us to create a more rewarding culture, and experience, together.

Our simple recipe for success? We hire talented people (thinkers, doers, dreamers, makers), challenge them and give them every opportunity to grow.

Job Description

Horizon Media is seeking a Manager, Principal Buying Operations & Process Transformation to strengthen the processes, systems, controls, reporting, and training that support Media Exchange (MX), Horizon's proprietary principal media buying model. The Manager will partner across Media Investment, Operations, Billing, Accounts Payable, Client Finance, Technology, Application Support, and external platforms to translate business needs into practical workflows and system solutions. This role will help identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, support business readiness, and drive continuous process improvements across the MX ecosystem

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Process Mapping, Operational Design & Workflow Governance

• Map and standardize MX workflows from deal ideation and client eligibility through trade execution, billing, reconciliation, and close.
• Identify bottlenecks, control gaps, and manual handoffs; design scalable procedures to replace offline workarounds.
• Maintain safeguards for principal pricing, vendor costs, and commercial margin data across systems and reporting environments.
• Maintain SOPs, process flows, exception matrices, decision logs, and operating documentation

Billing, Reconciliation & Financial Systems Alignmen t

• Analyze recurring billing variances, clearance discrepancies, and vendor payment issues to identify root causes and drive process improvements.
• Ensure buy structures, estimate setup, and system handoffs align with MX processes and NetSuite workflows.
• Partner with Client Finance, Billing, and Operations teams to investigate exceptions, document business requirements, and support workflow improvements.
• Support controls for governance, audit readiness, and contract compliance.
• Identify opportunities to improve financial process efficiency, reporting accuracy, and operational transparency across MX workflows.

Systems Enablement & Operational Readiness

• Gather and document business, operational, system, and reporting requirements from Investment, Finance, Billing, and leadership.
• Translate pain points into BRDs, user stories, process rules, acceptance criteria, and test scenarios.
• Partner with Technology, Application Support, and vendors to evaluate solution options, automation opportunities, and existing platform capabilities.
• Coordinate UAT, defect triage, retesting, business-readiness sign-off, deployment, production validation, pilots, and post-go-live stabilization.
• Work with Application Support, Technology, and vendors to investigate production issues, defects, reporting discrepancies, data variances, reconciliation exceptions, and workflow failures.
• Translate recurring issues into sustainable process, data, reporting, or system improvements and maintain requirements traceability, change request logs, and decision registers.
• Develop training materials, job aids, user communications, and supporting documentation that promote operational readiness and adoption of new processes and system capabilities.
• Partner with stakeholders to support change management efforts associated with process improvements, system enhancements, and business transformation initiatives

Qualifications & Experience

Required Qualifications

Education : Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Communications, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience: 8-10 years in business operations, media operations, agency finance, business analysis, process improvement, systems implementation, application support partnership, or business transformation.

Process & Analysis: Strong process mapping, requirements documentation, workflow design, issue triage, rootcause analysis, and control-gap identification skills.

Media Operations Acumen: Working knowledge of media investment operations, agency billing cycles, v