Assistant Content Director

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. • San Diego, CA

7d • Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Content Director is the newsroom’s second-in-command, helping lead editorial, operational, and content decisions across platforms. This is a multiplatform newsroom leadership role centered on audience needs, emerging technology, modern workflows, and content performance—not a traditional broadcast-first role. The Assistant Content Director helps lead daily newsroom operations, breaking-news coverage, content strategy, staff development, and workflow improvement while maintaining high standards of journalism.

The role calls for a strong journalist and proven leader who can guide teams through change, improve processes, and drive results. The successful candidate builds trust, motivates and develops people, coaches through change, and fosters alignment across different personalities, experience levels, and platforms. They champion audience-focused storytelling and modern content workflows, encourage experimentation, and use audience data and newsroom metrics to inform content decisions. In the absence of the Director of Content and Innovation, this person serves as the newsroom’s primary operational leader.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Seven or more years of newsroom leadership experience.
• Exceptional news judgment and commitment to journalistic ethics.
• Strong understanding of broadcast, digital, streaming, social, and emerging media platforms.
• Proven ability to lead teams in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Demonstrated emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to influence and lead through change by building consensus, developing relationships, and earning trust across all levels of the organization.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, organizational, and decision-making skills.
• Must be available to work a flexible schedule, including nights, weekends, holidays, and breaking-news situations.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading a modern, multiplatform newsroom, with a track record of adapting to changing technologies and audience behaviors, improving workflows, leading organizational change, and driving innovation in content strategy and distribution.
• Working knowledge of audience analytics, digital publishing platforms, and content management systems.

Responsibilities

• Help lead the daily operation of a multiplatform newsroom.
• Drive content strategy across broadcast, streaming, digital, social, and emerging platforms.
• Lead editorial meetings, coverage planning, special projects, and breaking-news execution.
• Ensure content meets standards of accuracy, fairness, urgency, and journalistic excellence.
• Champion audience-focused storytelling and modern content workflows.
• Serve as the newsroom’s primary operational leader in the absence of the Director of Content and Innovation.
• Lead recruitment, coaching, training, and performance management for content staff.
• Build a collaborative newsroom culture through coaching, mentorship, active listening, relationship-building, and clear communication.
• Lead organizational change with empathy, credibility, and accountability while maintaining engagement and trust.
• Create an environment where ideas are welcome and staff feel supported, challenged, and empowered to grow.
• Help identify and develop future newsroom leaders.
• Oversee daily newsroom workflows, staffing, and resource deployment.
• Coordinate multiplatform coverage of breaking news, major events, and special projects.
• Improve processes that support efficient and effective news gathering and content production.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, legal requirements, and journalistic standards.
• Partner with newsroom leadership to align content strategy with audience needs and performance insights.
• Encourage experimentation with new platforms, storytelling approaches, and technology.
• Support adoption of tools and workflows that improve content creation, distribution, and audience engagement.
• Use audience data and newsroom metrics to inform content decisions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior