Director, Sales Planning & Administration

About the role

The Director, Sales Planning & Administration is responsible for leading title lifecycle management, deal administration, rights governance, and operational execution across assigned international territories. This role serves as a strategic operational partner to Commercial Sales, Account Management, Legal, Finance, Distribution, and Strategy, ensuring contractual compliance, inventory accuracy, and executional readiness throughout the licensing lifecycle.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned distribution operations leader with deep expertise in rights management, window management, title availability, and enterprise system governance.

This individual will possess a comprehensive understanding of the international television distribution business, including output and volume licensing structures, first-run title commitments, product qualification processes, and the end-to-end workflow from deal negotiation through operational execution.

The successful candidate must demonstrate strong people leadership, operational rigor, strategic thinking, and cross-functional influence while ensuring accountability, data integrity, and executional excellence across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Contract Governance & Rights Compliance

• Oversee all licensing activities in strict accordance with executed agreements, approved deal terms, distribution policy, and corporate SLAs.
• Conduct regular contract and rights audits to validate that system data matches active executed legal terms and mitigate operational exposure.
• Partner with Legal and Commercial Sales to evaluate amendments, waivers, title substitutions, and contract revisions prior to execution.
• Maintain official territory rules governing window structures, holdbacks, and commercial restrictions across transactional, output volume, and linear business models.

Database Integrity, Pre-Submission QA & System Controls

• Oversee system setups in enterprise databases (SAFE) to ensure accurate configuration of rate cards, pricing, rights, and territory parameters prior to downstream release.
• Execute rigorous quality control over all outgoing tracking grids, budget files, and system setups to prevent fulfillment errors, data gaps, or feed disruptions.
• Manage database title blocking, pending order statuses, and configuration rules to ensure smooth supply chain feeds and eliminate artificial product availability blocks.
• Implement workflow improvements, automation initiatives, and reporting controls to enhance operational scalability and data accuracy.

Strategic Operations & Cross-Functional Governance

• Manage day-to-day operational support and title volume commitments across assigned international territories, ensuring full launch readiness and customer fulfillment.
• Drive end-to-end visibility into active deal pipelines, rights availability constraints, and market-specific operational risks.
• Act as the primary Sales Administration lead to Commercial Sales, Legal, Account Management, and Distribution Strategy on deal execution, windowing strategy, and title prioritization.
• Partner with Finance to audit revenue recognition assumptions, billing readiness, and forecasting impacts prior to deal finalization.
• Foster a culture of transparency, collaboration, and operational rigor across all internal stakeholder groups.

Team Leadership & Organizational Management

• Provide leadership and oversight for Managers and Assistant Managers, including second-line management responsibilities where applicable.
• Establish clear expectations around ownership, accountability, prioritization, and service delivery standards.
• Coach people leaders on issue resolution, workload management, stakeholder engagement, and employee development.
• Conduct performance management, talent development, and organizational capability building.
• Lead onboarding, training, knowledge transfer, and territory transition activities to ensure business continuity and operational consistency.

Basic Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive experience in Content Distribution, Sales Administration, Rights Management, Contract Administration, Account Management Operations, Distribution Operations, or related media entertainment functions.
• Minimum 5 years of leadership experience managing Managers and/or second-line teams within a major studio, broadcaster, streamer, or content distributor.
• Demonstrated experience supporting international television and film licensing businesses across multiple territories and distribution platforms.
• Experience supporting output, volume, package, and library licensing agreements across international markets.
• Comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end distribution workflow and stakeholder functions

Additional Requirements

• Hybrid: This position currently has a hybrid schedule, which requires contributing from the office a minimum of four days per week. The Company reserves the right to change in-office requirements at any time.

Pay and benefits

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. Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website. Salary range: $115,000 - $140,000 (bonus and long-term incentive eligible)