VP, Marketing Planning & Operations, CNN

Warner Bros. Discovery • Washington, DC

4d • $161,070 - $299,130

About The Position

CNN Marketing is seeking a strategic, collaborative, and dynamic VP, Marketing Planning & Operations to lead cross-functional planning and execution of holistic marketing programs. Reporting directly to the Head of Marketing, this executive serves as the bridge across marketing verticals and owns the end-to-end marketing planning and operating model. The role drives internal efficiency and alignment through standardized workflows, improved planning and campaign documentation, knowledge sharing, and adoption of automation and AI efficiency tools.

As a member of the marketing leadership team, the VP partners with brand and growth leads to improve marketing effectiveness and ensure priorities and campaigns deliver measurable business outcomes with executional excellence. The role leads operational orchestration, cross-functional governance, campaign planning and delivery, approvals, post-campaign reviews, team and resource planning, operational standards, and AI-driven workflow modernization. The position also establishes unified planning tools, documentation, and a centralized marketing repository as a single source of truth.

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive marketing leadership experience within major media, entertainment, streaming, or digital consumer brands.
• Hands-on operational management of paid media campaigns and/or owned and operated marketing channels.
• Proven track record managing complex, high-profile campaigns and building long-range marketing calendars or promotional roadmaps.
• Ability to prioritize team workload based on known or potential contribution to business objectives.
• Demonstrated experience driving operational transformation within complex, matrixed organizations, including rewriting workflows, scaling marketing structures, and rolling out enterprise tools.
• Experience operating across integrated marketing ecosystems, including brand, media, digital, social, and content production.
• Strong understanding of marketing investment, budget management, and ROI measurement to inform prioritization and decision-making.
• High emotional intelligence and ability to guide teams through change management while standardizing processes without stifling strategic and creative output.
• Ability to operate at scale within a global, matrixed organization while balancing strategic vision with operational rigor and execution discipline.

Nice To Haves

• Practical familiarity with Generative AI, automation, and project management tools for optimizing marketing workflows.
• A strong point of view on organizational design, internal efficiency, collaboration, strategy documentation, and technology use in modern marketing teams.

Responsibilities

• Track intake, timing, dependencies, and troubleshooting for tiered marketing initiatives tied to measurable business objectives; define prioritization criteria with marketing and content leaders and communicate rolling updates.
• Unify marketing verticals and coordinate teams to maintain strategic alignment and on-time campaign execution from planning through optimization.
• Oversee marketing planning architecture and synchronize teams from brief through execution and post-mortem; establish standardized timelines and milestones.
• Establish and lead campaign readiness reviews, weekly orchestration meetings, and other governance forums to drive alignment and mitigate risk.
• Ensure clear and streamlined approvals across campaign stages to support timely decisions and reduce bottlenecks.
• Facilitate accurate and timely campaign delivery and ensure assets and deliverables meet quality assurance standards before launch.
• Lead standardized post-campaign reviews to capture process insights and key learnings and improve future planning and performance.
• Build and scale the Marketing Planning and Operations function; define functions, manage the team, mentor employees, and support career growth.
• Assess team bandwidth and capacity, identify gaps, and support changing business priorities in partnership with the Head of Marketing and marketing leads.
• Define, implement, and enforce modernized, agile ways of working across marketing, breaking down silos and aligning teams around shared goals and business KPIs.
• Define and enforce operational KPIs and performance benchmarks.
• Establish and scale unified templates for strategic briefs, campaign frameworks, marketing roadmaps, and post-mortems.
• Explore, onboard, and drive adoption of AI-driven operational tools; enable automation of repetitive workflows and optimization of resource management and campaign execution.
• Establish centralized marketing planning and campaign management tools and a unified repository as a transparent single source of truth; optimize creative and media workflows.
• Partner with brand and growth team leads to drive marketing effectiveness and measurable business outcomes.

Benefits

• Health insurance coverage
• Employee wellness program
• Life and disability insurance
• Retirement savings plan
• Paid holidays
• Sick time
• Vacation
• Annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards may also be offered.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed