Operations Tech Lead, Enterprise Tech

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant’s sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass. Role Summary  The Operations Technical Lead for Enterprise Tech is a strategic, cross-functional leader responsible for operational excellence across Enterprise Technology systems supporting Corporate Core functions, including Finance, Procurement, HR, Payroll, Legal, Privacy, and Corporate Communications. Reporting to the Director of Engineering of Platform & Integration, this role ensures reliability, governance, scalability, and performance across all enterprise platforms and integrations.  The successful candidate will understand cross-domain interdependencies across these areas, driving seamless coordination and optimized performance, with particular depth in the SAP platform, BASIS, and enterprise integrations. They will bring a modern mindset, a strong leadership presence, and the ability to navigate complex technical environments with empathy, clarity, and precision.  This role collaborates closely with engineering leads, technical project managers, product owners, and other stakeholders to ensure systems are well-documented, compliant, scalable, and follow approved change management processes. Additionally, the lead will represent Enterprise Technology across Operations & Technology, fostering strong cross-functional relationships, managing vendor coordination, overseeing environment and system governance, and delivering insightful operational reporting.  Key Responsibilities: Operations Leadership:  Lead operational excellence across Enterprise Technology systems supporting Finance, Procurement, HR, Payroll, Legal, Privacy, and Corporate Communications, with deep focus on SAP, BASIS, and enterprise integrations.  Ensure high availability, performance, monitoring, incident response, and overall system reliability across enterprise platforms.  Own environment and system governance, including release management, change control, transports, patching (including security updates), and operational standards.  Manage contractors, service providers, and vendor SLAs to ensure performance, accountability, and service quality.  Proactively assess capacity, resource needs, operational risks, and performance gaps.  Enterprise Process & Program Alignment: Establish and mature scalable operational processes and standards with enterprise growth and transformation.  Partner with technical project managers, product owners, and engineering leads to align operational activities and readiness with project timelines and business priorities.  Drive continuous improvement in operational workflows through automation, tooling enhancements, and modernization activities.  Governance & Compliance:  Partner with security and engineering stakeholders to maintain compliance with SOX, GDPR, privacy requirements, and internal controls.  Ensure systems adhere to approved change management processes and documentation standards.  Own the structured and accessible operational documentation and knowledge management documentation and practices.  Track and report on operational KPIs, operational health, risk exposure, technical debt, and modernization opportunities.  Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the operational liaison between engineering teams as well as stakeholders to ensure seamless coordination.  Represent Enterprise Technology within Operations & Technology forums and leadership discussions.  Engage with vendors and service providers to manage SLAs and operational dependencies.  Deliver clear, data-driven operational reporting and insights to support executive decision-making.  8+ years of experience in enterprise IT operations, preferably in SAP or ERP-driven environments supporting Corporate Core functions (Finance, Procurement, HR, Payroll, Legal, Privacy).  Strong understanding of SAP platform operations, BASIS administration, enterprise integrations, integration, and platform operations.  Leadership presence with the ability to influence stakeholders, foster collaboration, communicate technical concepts with clarity and impact, and lead with empathy.  Experience navigating change and ambiguity in transformation environments, and a commitment to continuous learning and professional development.  Proven ability to lead cross-functional operational initiatives and teams across multiple technology domains in complex, transformation-oriented organizations.  Experience supporting enterprise governance, change management, and compliance frameworks (SOX, GDPR, privacy controls).  Excellent communication and documentation skills; experience with Confluence, Jira, and reporting/visualization tools.  As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. For LA County and City Residents Only: VERSANT Media will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction r