Director of Business Operations (Technology & AI) (m/f/d)

Mission Statement

Bauer Media Audio is Europe’s leading commercial audio broadcaster. We are on a journey to evolve the world of audio and continue to deliver for our audiences across Broadcast and Digital by sustained innovation across our entire product and technology estate.
The Director of Business Operations (m/f/d) is a key leader responsible for driving operational excellence across the whole Technology & AI team. This role ensures that our large and distributed team is performing at its best, by helping to optimize process and ways of working, working closely with colleagues across the different teams and our nine markets.
Part of the Technology & AI Leadership team, this individual will be the main connector with other parts of the business. They will help with strategy definition, planning and implementation.

Main Responsibilities

Strategic Planning & Execution:

• Partner with the Technology & AI leadership to define and execute the organization’s operational strategy
• Translate business and technology goals into actionable deliverables, KPIs, and operating plans
• Responsible for interfacing with planning cycles, including headcount planning and investment prioritization
• Track execution against strategic objectives and proactively address risks and gaps 

Operational Excellence:

• Design, standardize, and continuously improve operational processes across product engineering, technology, and AI teams
• Working with the PMO team (Programme Management Office), establish best practices for project tracking, prioritization, and delivery management
• Drive initiatives to improve efficiency, scalability, and team productivity
• Ensure operational rigor in change management, tooling, and workflow adoption 

Cross Functional Partnership:

• Act as a trusted advisor to the Technology & AI Leadership team
• Collaborate with Finance, HR, Legal, Procurement and other supporting functions to drive alignment with the strategy
• Support the team setting up Enterprise Agreements with partners as required
• Serve as a point of integration between the team and stakeholders, being the main connector with other parts of the business

Financial & Capacity Management:

• Support the Leadership team managing the organization’s operating budget, forecasts, and cost optimization initiatives
• Partner with Finance on budgeting, variance analysis, and long-range financial planning
• Optimize capacity allocation across teams, programs, and strategic initiatives

Performance Management & Reporting:

• Support the definition and tracking of key KPIs across the teams
• Help improve the visibility of KPIs and roadmaps, ensuring this information is accessible and discussed amongst the leadership team

Main Objectives

• Collaboration & Cooperation: As a key member of the Technology & AI leadership team, work closely with peers and key stakeholders on driving the digital transformation of BMA
• Delivering Value & Alignment: Ensure that BMA’s technical strategy aligns with and enables the delivery of business goals
• Performance tracking & improvement: Drive the continuous improvement of KPIs and ways of working across the team

Job Requirements

Personal skills: 

• Organisation & Prioritisation: Ability to manage multiple projects and demands, ensuring that business and market needs are met in a timely manner
• Clear Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in managing high-pressure situations like incident escalations
• Resilience & Adaptability: Ability to maintain calm and clarity under pressure, demonstrating strong decision-making and problem-solving skills in complex technical environments
• Strong problem-solving abilities, with a technical background that allows for effective management of complex back-end systems
• High emotional intelligence, with a focus on empathy-driven communication and conflict resolution
• Adaptable and decisive, capable of handling shifting priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent organisational skills, able to manage multiple projects and tasks concurrently

Social skills:

• Collaboration & Empathy: Strong interpersonal skills, enabling effective collaboration with internal teams and external stakeholders. A focus on transparent and empathetic communication.
• Conflict Resolution: Ability to mediate disputes within the team and ensure conflicts are resolved constructively.
• Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to  interact and influence at an executive level.

Previous work experience

• Business Operations experience in a Technology context
• Experience navigating large matrix organisation
• Ideally experience in the media industry

About Bauer Media Group

We are a media business focused on creating content that matters to millions of people across Europe. Our offering extends from print and online publishing to audio broadcasting and entertainment, alongside investments in other media related sectors. With more than 500 million copies sold each year, we are one of Europe’s largest Publishers. From women’s and celebrities’ magazines to TV listings to food and special interest, we own some of the most popular publishing brands in Germany, UK, Poland and France – both digital and print. But not only that. Reaching over 61 million listeners weekly, we operate over 150 radio and podcast brands in nine countries, spanning the UK, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Portugal. Family-owned in the 5th generation, Bauer Media focuses on the long-term, with a consumer-first mindset that guides us across our diverse portfolio. Our workforce of 12,000 shares a common purpose: to deliver content and services that enrich people‘s everyday lives.

What’s in it for you

• You’ll have 28 days holiday, bank holidays & 2 volunteer days to use
• Your development matters, so access to our internal training provider – Bauer Academy, is a huge win
• We have enhanced Maternity/Adoption, Paternity and Shared Parental Leave Pay
• You’ll have the opportunity for flexible working
• And much more! Find the full details of our benefits here 

We are an international employer and equal opportunities are important to us. That's why we welcome everyone in their uniqueness, regardless of e.g. religion, gender, skin color, disability in our house.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or a long term health condition, and need us to make any reasonable adjustments or do anything differently during any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing careershub@bauermedia.co.uk

We are actively recruiting for this position, so the job advert may close earlier than expected.

If you have any feedback regarding our UK recruitment process, please email careershub@bauermedia.co.uk we would love to hear from you.