Director, Engineering, Mobile & Connected TV

VERSANT is a leading force in news, sports and entertainment - home to iconic and trusted brands that inspire, inform, and delight audiences. Our unique combination of content, technology and services enriches the cultural fabric, igniting passions, sparking conversations, and connecting people to what they love most.

As an independent, publicly traded company, VERSANT brings together powerhouse cable networks - including USA Network, CNBC, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Golf Channel - with dynamic digital and direct-to-consumer brands such as Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. Together, these businesses reflect our commitment to delivering exceptional experiences across every screen and service.

VERSANT is an industry-changing media company fueled by innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. With a strong foundation and a forward-looking vision, VERSANT empowers creativity, embraces change, and drives connection in an ever-evolving world.

We are looking for an experienced and customer-obsessed Director of Engineering to lead the development and evolution of our mobile and connected TV (CTV) platforms across iOS, Android, tvOS, Roku, and Lightning-based applications. This role will own the technical vision, execution, and performance of Versant’s mobile and CTV products, ensuring our apps deliver world-class viewing experiences to millions of users.

You will lead multiple engineering teams, foster cross-functional collaboration, and work closely with Product, Design, QA, Data, and Business stakeholders to drive platform innovation, technical excellence, and operational performance. This is a highly visible leadership role for someone who is both strategic and hands-on, with a passion for media technology and delivering delightful customer experiences.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership & Strategy Lead, inspire, and scale a team of engineers and engineering managers across mobile (iOS, Android) and CTV (tvOS, Roku, Lightning) platforms
• Define and drive the technical strategy, roadmap, and execution plans aligned with product vision and business priorities
• Act as the voice of engineering in product and executive conversations—advocating for scalability, performance, maintainability, and customer impact
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders across Product, Design, Editorial, QA, Video Engineering, and UX Research to shape platform direction and user experience
• Engineering Excellence: Ensure high availability, reliability, and performance across mobile and CTV apps
• Champion best practices in software development, security, architecture, testing, and CI/CD
• Drive consistency in architecture and shared services across mobile and CTV platforms, identifying opportunities for modularization and cross-platform efficiency
• Oversee architectural decisions to support long-term maintainability and extensibility
• Establish and uphold technical governance practices to ensure code quality, platform security, and development consistency
• Customer Experience & Delivery: Advocate relentlessly for the end user—driving features and optimizations that enhance speed, video quality, usability, and engagement
• Balance rapid feature delivery with technical sustainability and platform quality
• Oversee incident response and operational health of apps across all supported devices
• Define and track key engineering KPIs including crash rate, app performance, playback reliability, code quality, application security posture improvements and delivery velocity
• Coordinate with internal platform teams, third-party service providers, and device partners for feature rollouts and platform enhancements.
• Talent & Culture: Mentor, develop, and retain top engineering talent; grow technical leadership within the teams
• Foster an inclusive and collaborative culture of excellence, ownership, and innovation
• Lead by example in promoting accountability, clear communication, and high-impact execution

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in engineering leadership roles
• Proven experience delivering large-scale mobile and/or CTV applications at high user scale
• Strong technical background in native mobile (iOS, Android) and CTV (tvOS, Roku, Lightning framework) development
• Experience managing multiple teams or platforms with varying tech stacks and device-specific needs
• Strong knowledge of video streaming, playback optimization, and performance tuning
• Experience with video streaming technologies (HLS, DASH, DRM, CDNs)
• Experience with video players (e.g., JWPlayer, VideoJS, Shaka, ExoPlayer, AVPlayer), analytics tools (Adobe, Comscore) and QoS (Conviva)
• Deep understanding of software development lifecycle, agile practices, observability, and mobile CI/CD pipelines
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, matrixed environment and drive outcomes across teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in the media, streaming, or publishing industry Experience with hybrid or cross-platform frameworks
• Familiarity with analytics tools, crash reporting platforms, and feature experimentation frameworks
• Understanding of privacy, compliance, and security concerns in mobile/CTV development
• Track record of building customer-first, data-informed engineering organizations
• Familiarity with ad-tech integration CSAI (Client-side Ad Insertion) and SSAI (Server-Side Ad Insertion)

What We Offer

At CNBC Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, you’ll have access to great perks and amenities:

• Sweat it out – Free onsite fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, plus daily group classes
• Eat up – Gourmet cafeteria with daily specials plus soup and salad bars
• Commute-friendly – Free shuttle transportation to and from multiple locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hoboken, and Jersey City
• Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week.
• This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks.

Salary range: $225,000-$250,000 (bonus and long-term incentive eligible).

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT'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.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected].

VERSANT is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc.