WLKY - Chief Engineer

HEARST PROPERTIES, INC; Clifton (KY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental & Vision

401(k) matching

Emotional Wellness Support

Paid Time Off

Parental Leave

LGBTQ+ Health Services

Job summary

Hearst Television is seeking a Chief Engineer in the Louisville area to lead the engineering team and ensure reliable, compliant broadcast operations across News, Production, and Transmission. You will oversee maintenance, system upgrades, and continuity planning while coordinating with Hearst Television standards and enterprise IT partners.

The role calls for strong leadership, deep technical expertise in RF, IP, and automation, and a readiness to respond to outages or emergencies as they arise.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in television broadcast engineering or related field.
• Knowledge of FCC/EAS requirements and regulatory compliance.
• Experience planning technical projects, budgets, and vendor management.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex systems under deadline pressure and explain issues clearly.
• Willingness to work nights, weekends, or emergencies as needed.
• Education or experience in related fields; varied experiences considered.
• Experience with IP-based media workflows and cybersecurity practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop the station's engineering team and on-call coverage.
• Set service standards and align technology plans with news and production needs.
• Oversee reliability, maintenance, and lifecycle planning of broadcast, newsroom, and transmission systems.
• Coordinate with leadership on cybersecurity, business continuity, and IT partnerships.
• Develop budgets, replacement plans, vendor relations, and project execution.

Skills

Broadcast engineering

IP-based workflows

Project management

Staff leadership

Troubleshooting

FCC/EAS knowledge

Cybersecurity awareness

Education

Broadcast engineering or related degree

IT/electrical engineering background

Tools

Broadcast automation systems

IP video/audio platforms

Streaming/media platforms

Job description

WLKY, the CBS affiliate in Louisville KY is seeking a Chief Engineer to lead the technical operation and continued modernization of a television station. Reporting to the General Manager, this role is a member of the station leadership team and is accountable for the reliability, safety, compliance, and performance of the systems and facilities that support broadcast, news, production, transmission, and digital distribution. The Chief Engineer partners across the station and with Hearst Television teams to keep service dependable today and plan for what comes next. The right candidate will be a proven leader with the ability to motivate teams and build a culture of excellence.

What You'll Do

Engineering Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop the station's engineering team, including staffing, scheduling, performance feedback, technical training, and on-call coverage.
• Set priorities and service standards for engineering work, build strong working relationships across departments, and communicate technical issues and their operational impact clearly.
• Partner with the General Manager and station leaders to align technology plans with local journalism, production, business needs, and Hearst Television standards.

Broadcast and Facility Operations

• Oversee the reliability, maintenance, troubleshooting, and lifecycle planning of broadcast, newsroom, production, automation, master control, media storage, network, streaming, and transmission systems.
• Maintain station transmission and RF facilities, studios, control rooms, remote production equipment, and critical infrastructure such as generators, UPS, and HVAC systems supporting technical operations.
• Provide engineering leadership during live programming, breaking news, severe weather, outages, and other urgent events; coordinate response, recovery, and follow-up.

Compliance, Safety, and Resilience

• Ensure required FCC, EAS, and other applicable regulatory and industry obligations are met, with accurate records, scheduled testing, inspections, and timely corrective action.
• Maintain preventive maintenance, equipment inventory, technical documentation, safety practices, emergency preparedness, backup power, and disaster recovery plans.
• Coordinate with Hearst Television and enterprise IT partners on cybersecurity, network resilience, access practices, and business continuity for station systems.

Planning and Modernization

• Develop and manage operating and capital budgets, equipment replacement plans, vendor relationships, service contracts, and engineering projects from proposal through implementation.
• Evaluate and implement improvements to IP-based workflows, automation, cloud or hybrid services, streaming, and other emerging technologies while protecting reliable on-air operations.
• Use approved AI tools, where appropriate, to support technical research, summarize logs or documentation, identify workflow improvement opportunities, and organize maintenance or project information; verify outputs before use and follow company requirements for confidential, employee, and operational data.
• Review significant technical incidents, identify root causes, document corrective actions, and apply lessons learned to improve reliability.

What You'll Need

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in television broadcast engineering, media technology, or a closely related technical field, including experience leading or supervising technical staff.
• Working knowledge of television broadcast systems, RF transmission, studio and newsroom technologies, automation, IP-based media workflows, and applicable FCC and EAS requirements.
• Experience planning technical projects, managing budgets and vendors, prioritizing equipment lifecycle needs, and coordinating work across departments.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex systems, make sound decisions under deadline pressure, and explain technical issues to both technical and non-technical colleagues.
• Ability to provide support during live operations and occasional nights, weekends, holidays, or emergencies as station needs require.
• Education, training, or experience in broadcast engineering, electrical engineering, information technology, electronics, or a related field. Hearst Television will consider a college degree, trade school diploma, professional certificates, military training, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with broadcast automation, IP video and audio, streaming, cloud or hybrid media systems, cybersecurity practices, emergency planning, and relevant certifications such as SBE is valued.
• Related military experience will be considered.

Values in Action

At Hearst Television we tell stories every day. Stories about people of all backgrounds, perspectives, and identities. That's why, behind the scenes, we believe in being an organization that fosters collaboration and open communication, ensuring that the content we create is authentic, accurate, and connected to the communities we serve.

Benefits

• Medical | Dental | Vision
• 401(k) matching
• Emotional Wellness Support
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Parental Leave
• LGBTQ+ Health Services
• Additional benefits to meet your and your family's needs

Hearst Television (HTV) owns and/or operates 35 television and two radio stations serving 27 media markets across 39 states reaching nearly 25 million U.S. television households. HTV is recognized as one of the industry's premier broadcasting companies and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. we do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, creed, national, origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.