NAC Media Manager - ABC News

ABC News is looking for a Manager of the Washington DC Bureau’s News Acquisition Center (NAC) to oversee the day-to-day operations of the 24/7 department!

The News Acquisition Center is responsible for booking and managing all feeds in and out of ABC’s Washington DC News Bureau, as well as operational coordination for ABC News programs, ESPN shows based in the Bureau, breaking news, and large-scale planned special events. The department handles a constant level of video feeds routed through the Bureau via satellite, microwave, fiber, and IP. Therefore, a deep understanding of those technologies is a must. This department operates at a high level of coordination and documentation with the routing of live shots, pool feeds, guest interviews, live hearings, and breaking news for distribution for all ABC platforms and clients. The NAC Manager will also play a significant role in large special events with transmission planning, routing, and documentation.

The Manager of the Washington DC NAC will be responsible for all scheduling of union and non-union personnel in the department, supervise all managerial duties of the NAC to ensure smooth operation and coordinate workflows and requests to support the larger News Operations team.

Candidates must be self-starters, strategic and technically minded, enjoy working in a fast-paced news environment, and have exceptional attention to detail. They must have experience in managing multiple projects at once, be a skilled manager of people and resources, and have excellent verbal and written communication skills. , They must be a great teammate willing to help others with extra duties and able to build relationships with internal employees and outside colleagues. This role offers growth in a variety of skill sets, and candidates must be willing to take on new responsibilities over time as part of a larger team. The NAC Manager will report to the Senior Manager of Media Operations.

Responsibilities

• Manage the NAC and its resources while working several shifts a week as an NAC Producer.
• Oversee the coordination of all feed requests in and out of the Bureau and ensure their quality.
• Careful documentation of all feeds in and out of the Bureau, and NAC resource usage.
• Manage the coordination with New York’s On-Air control rooms during live shows and Breaking News. This includes live shot check-in, routing, and communication setup.
• Ordering and coordination of feeds with the New York NAC.
• Organization of all Washington feed traffic for large Special Events (i.e., State of the Union, Inauguration, etc).
• Day-to-day supervision of union-represented NAC Engineers and non-union NAC Producers in the execution of their duties and assisting them with troubleshooting when needed.
• Oversee the scheduling of NAC personnel (both union and non-union, staff and freelance), including late sick calls.
• Working with News Engineering to ensure NAC equipment is working efficiently.
• Oversee existing workflows and assist in the development of new workflows.
• Days longer than 8 hours should be expected. Nights, weekends, and holiday work may be required based on the news cycle and coverage needs.
• Other responsibilities may be added as workflows change.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years of network-level television experience and traffic/operations coordination.
• Must be flexible to work as required. This may include early mornings, late evenings, weekends, or holidays.
• Must be able to work in a stressful, breaking news environment.
• Must be well organized and extremely attentive to details.
• Previous management experience.
• Working knowledge of the DC metro area and government logistics.
• Understanding of video routing and video standards.
• Knowledge of satellite, fiber, microwave, and IP transmission techniques

Required Education:

• High School diploma or equivalent

Preferred Education:

• Journalism or technical degree