Vice President, Programming & Independent Productions

Rocky Mountain PBS; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver seeks a visionary Vice President of Programming & Independent Productions to lead strategy, acquisitions, and partnerships for local and national content across broadcast and digital platforms.

The role oversees production partnerships, audience analytics, and editorial judgment, guiding teams to deliver high-impact programming while ensuring compliance with public media standards and long-term organizational value.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 10+ years in programming, content strategy, or related leadership roles.

Responsibilities

• Set the overall programming strategy for broadcast and digital platforms.
• Lead independent production partnerships and manage production pipelines.
• Oversee acquisitions, curation, and compliance with public media standards.
• Build external partnerships with festivals, creators, and institutions.
• Lead budgeting, staffing, and operational planning for programming teams.

Skills

Leadership

Audience analytics

Strategic content planning

Public media experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in Communications/Media/Related field

Job description

Vice President, Programming & Independent Productions — RMPBS, RMPBS+

VICE PRESIDENT, PROGRAMMING & INDEPENDENT PRODUCTIONS - RMPBS, RMPBS+

The Vice President of RMPBS Programming and Independent Productions leads the strategic development, curation, and execution of content across local linear broadcast and digital streaming platforms. They oversee program acquisitions, manage original production partnerships, align content with audience needs, and ensure broadcasts comply with FCC, educational and public media standards. This role focuses on pipeline development and long-term strategic value (including revenue potential) in addition to overseeing the Studio Engagement Strategy and Operations team which produces original programming and special projects as needed.

As a senior content executive, the Vice President has accountability for the strategic direction, organizational performance, financial stewardship and leadership of RMPBS Programming and Studio Engagement Strategy & Operations. The role develops the leaders and teams within these functions, aligns resources and investments to organizational priorities, and establishes measurable expectations for audience impact, content performance, operational effectiveness and long-term value.

Rocky Mountain Public Media is centered around a "friendship business model" – organizing content, revenue, and relationships around depth and reciprocity with our friends, investing in relationships rather than transactions. The Vice President plays a central role in shaping content and partnerships that deepen those relationships.

This role reports to the Chief Experience Officer.

Core Responsibilities

• Programming Strategy: Set the overall broadcast and digital streaming strategy for RMPBS. Determine schedules. Analyze audience data, demographics, and trends to maximize viewership and digital streaming engagement.
• Develop cohesive strategy to promote local and national content across social channels, newsletters, and across departments and brands when appropriate.
• Synthesize and communicate critical audience data and trends, including ratings, viewership, and performance metrics, to internal stakeholders to inform programming decisions, schedule optimization, and organizational strategic planning.
• Independent Production Partnerships:Lead the creative process for independent production partnerships that deliver original content to RMPBS audiences across broadcast and streaming platforms. Work closely with producers and on-air talent to guide storytelling and production values and connect partners with tools and resources to help support the successful funding and completion of projects. Connect independent production partners with national distribution opportunities to elevate their work. Establish governance for programming decisions.
• Build external partnerships that expand audience and community impact. Build and manage relationships with festivals, creators, and institutions to source new content and partnership opportunities.
• Content Acquisition & Curation:Lead strategy on selecting and licensing local, national and international programs for RMPBS to meet audience needs. Ensure proper legal clearances and appropriate contract negotiations.
• Build and maintain relationships with distributors, producers, and content providers to expand programming opportunities. Assess content opportunities based on audience relevance, strategic value, and platform performance.Studio Engagement Strategy and Operations: Lead strategy for the production of special projects that supplement the work of other content teams. This team includes content producers capable of end-to-end project and content management, and is responsible for the day-to-day management of studio spaces at the Buell Public Media Center in Denver.
• Team Management:Lead, coach, and develop senior leaders, including the Studio Engagement and Operations team (currently: Senior Director of Studio Engagement Strategy and Operations, Studio Operations Producer, Creative Producer and to-be-filled Senior Creative Producer) and the Programming team (currently: Programming Manager, Independent Programming Specialist, Assistant Manager of Programming, Technical Programming Specialist) alongside managing relationships with key vendors and partners. Oversee hiring, training, and performance evaluations for the Programming Department. Lead continuous improvement across programming operations and creative direction.
• Budgeting and Operations: Develop and manage the budgets for functions within the Vice President's portfolio. Establish resource priorities and make investment recommendations across programming acquisitions, independent productions, studio operations, staffing and strategic initiatives based on audience impact, mission alignment, financial sustainability and long-term value. Collaborate with RMPM's philanthropy team to develop grant programs to support independent productions.
• Collaborate with Membership to design revenue‑generating fundraising schedules, balancing financial outcomes with audience experience and brand integrity.
• Cross‑Departmental Collaboration: Partner with Marketing, Journalism, Membership, Traffic, Technology and Content Teams to promote content, seed collaborative opportunities internally and externally, and ensure technical broadcast and digital streaming quality to ensure a great experience for RMPM's friends. Identify key programming opportunities and initiatives that warrant promotional support across platforms and extend to live events.
• Lead cross‑functional meetings on programming strategy, promotion, local content planning, and independent productions. Foster collaboration among departments to ensure consistency in programming priorities, branding, and audience engagement strategies.
• Maintain and distribute an editorial calendar to denote key programming initiatives and integration with RMPM tentpoles.
• Collaborate with Marketing to develop and implement on‑air promotions and thematic campaigns.

Qualifications and Skills

• Education and Experience: Bachelor's degree required. At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in programming, content strategy, production, management, media or a related field, including at least five years of significant leadership responsibility. Experience in public media and PBS programming strongly preferred.
• Production Experience:Hands-on experience in field production or the development and production of original content, with fluency in production workflows, budgets, and timelines. This experience is essential for effectively liaising with local producers and creative partners, guiding storytelling and production values, and helping projects move from concept to completion.
• Editorial Judgment: Strong editorial skills, journalistic integrity, and an understanding of public broadcasting values, ethics, and FCC broadcast regulations.
• Leadership:Demonstrated success leading leaders and multidisciplinary creative, programming and operational teams; developing talent and succession; managing organizational change; and balancing creative ambition with operational, financial and audience considerations.
• Serve as a senior advisor to the Chief Experience Officer and organizational leadership on content strategy, programming investments, audience opportunities, production partnerships and the evolving media landscape.
• Audience Analytics:Proficiency in using audience measurement tools and reports (Nielsen, Google Analytics, DOMO, etc.) to inform programming decisions. Desire to root data and decisions in a community-feedback loop to meet explicit audience needs and engage in ongoing dialogue with our friends.