Sr Director, Analytics & Science

Job Description

The Job

We are seeking a Sr Director to join our Data Intelligence team and lead a newly created Analytics and Data Science organization. This organization is data science-forward, bringing together top talent in data science, research, and digital analytics to drive business decisions and grow CNN's digital footprint.

This individual will work closely with senior leadership to democratize the use of data, analytics, and Data Science/Machine Learning to drive CNN's Digital strategy, collaborating closely with product, marketing, and revenue stakeholders to identify opportunities for future-looking and descriptive data products. They will build and execute on an analytics and science roadmap that integrates ML into the practice of measuring success across content, marketing, and product. The position will have a significant impact on CNN, so we are seeking someone who can take charge, think big, innovate, and deliver on their commitments.

Core areas of focus include:

Culture & Vision: Build, support, and grow a diverse, best-in-class team of analysts and data capable of meeting tomorrow's business challenges, while fostering a culture of learning and innovation that upskills the business to better understand ML and advance analytics. Serve as a technical and business mentor that helps team members grow by taking on emerging business initiatives and needs. Leadership: Identify opportunities where historical insights, predictive analytics, and prescriptive optimizations can drive meaningful business impacts, working with business leaders and executives to champion a data driven culture across CNN. Provide direction to a group of self-sufficient Sr. Managers in delivering high-impact cross-functional work. Management: Direct the activities of a broad functional area through several department managers. Plan, staff, budget, prioritize, recommend, and implement the analytics and data science capabilities needed to make data-driven decisions across a range of managerial and executive levels.

This is a collaborative role. You'll work to accomplish objectives with cross-functional leaders through influence and expertise, developing a data-driven culture that has the insights and tools that it needs to make informed decisions fast and deliver impactful experiences.

The Daily
• Set the strategic direction for Analytics & Science (charter, priorities, etc.)
• Set talent development principles and culture (spearhead talent and retention initiatives)
• Develop business case and investment plans (headcount, capability build vs. buy, et al.)
• Align the broader organization around a common analytics & science strategy within and across teams (internal and external to DI)
• Drive highly visible, high impact and complex analytics & data science engagements that impact the data platform and reporting/analytics ecosystem
• Guide a team through the end-to-end data science/analytics insights lifecycle, from definition to delivery to deployment to decommissioning
• Be savvy in usage and application of data science approaches to business problems, including propensity modeling, look-alike targeting, customer lifetime value, dynamic audience segmentation, and voice of customer
• Synthesize, merge, and transform existing reporting/analytics capabilities with new insights and user experiences. Drive the growth and importance of self-serve analytics and data science insights
• Be an analytics and data science thought leader, ensuring high quality insights, adherence to best practices, and the creation of scalable, repeatable deliverables

Desired Experience & Characteristics:
• 10-15+ years' analytics and data science experience, with 5+ years of management experience working on or with cross-functional content, monetization, product, and marketing teams, preferably within online direct-to-consumer (DTC) organizations
• 8+ years of technical experience, including strong statistical and data modeling skills (examples: SQL, R, Python), custom visualization development (example: python, Java, d3), hands-on predictive and descriptive analysis, and data wrangling from complex data sets
• MA/MS/MBA in a quantitative field required, PhD preferred. Broad applied research background in statistics, linguistics, mass communication, marketing, econometrics, psychology, finance, and/or computer science a plus
• Strong industry knowledge of the end-to-end consumer journey, including demonstrated expertise in delivering Marketing, Finance, and Revenue analytics, insights, and results
• Demonstrated ability to stakeholder and consult with senior business leaders and identify cross-functional collaborations beyond the technical realm.
• A quick learner can work independently in a matrixed environment, adaptability, and a strong self-teaching ethic
• Thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic, and agile environment that can pivot quickly to capture opportunities from the users and business's changing needs.
• Outstanding organizational, interpersonal (ability to influence without hierarchy) and communication skills

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g67o0n-18-116-90-141-42 in your application.