Social Publishing and Platforms Lead

Position Summary: 

The Director, Social Publishing & Platforms leads the NBA’s Channel Programming function, overseeing platform strategy and publishing, audience engagement, and content optimization across the league’s social, digital, and emerging platforms. This role is responsible for establishing publishing standards, platform-specific strategies, and audience engagement practices that drive performance, consistency, and growth across the NBA’s global content ecosystem. 

The ideal candidate possesses deep expertise across social media, digital publishing, audience behavior, and platform innovation. They understand how content should be packaged, distributed, optimized, and amplified across platforms to maximize reach, engagement, tune-in, and business impact. This individual combines strong editorial instincts, operational leadership, and platform expertise to lead publishing teams, shape platform strategy, and drive best-in-class content distribution across the NBA’s channels. 

Major Responsibilities: 

• Lead the NBA’s Social Publishing & Platforms function, overseeing platform strategy and  publishing, audience engagement, and day-to-day channel performance across social, digital, and emerging platforms. 

• Oversees day-to-day publishing processes across NBA platforms and serves as the primary publishing leader outside of live game windows and tentpole event coverage. 

• Establish platform-specific publishing, distribution, optimization, and audience growth strategies across social and digital platforms. 

• Manage and develop platform leads, publishers, and channel programming resources, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement. 

• Develop and maintain publishing standards, platform playbooks, copywriting guidelines, moderation frameworks, and operational best practices that ensure consistency across channels. 

• Partner closely with Content Planning & Promotion, Game Night Publishing, Content Creation, Vertical Content Strategy, and more.  

• Oversee platform-specific publishing calendars, channel programming workflows, content packaging strategies, SEO best practices, community management initiatives, and platform optimization efforts. 

• Evaluate platform performance, audience trends, and emerging industry developments to identify opportunities for innovation, experimentation, and audience growth. 

• Drive adoption of new platform features, publishing technologies, automation tools, and AI-enabled workflows that improve efficiency and content performance. 

• Collaborate with platform partners and internal stakeholders to identify strategic opportunities that strengthen the NBA’s presence across existing and emerging channels. 

• Establish performance benchmarks, reporting frameworks, and success metrics to measure publishing effectiveness, audience growth, engagement, and platform health. 

Required Skills/Knowledge: 

• 8+ years of experience leading publishing, social media strategy, digital content distribution, or platform management for a sports league, media company, publisher, entertainment brand, or technology platform. 

• Expert-level understanding of social media platforms, digital publishing ecosystems, audience engagement, platform algorithms, and content optimization strategies. 

• Proven experience managing large-scale publishing operations and leading teams responsible for content distribution across multiple platforms. 

• Deep knowledge of the NBA, including players, teams, storylines, statistics, standings, league history, and fan culture. 

• Strong understanding of audience growth strategies, community management, SEO, content packaging, and performance optimization. 

• Experience leveraging audience insights, analytics, and performance reporting to inform platform strategy and business decisions. 

• Proven ability to develop operational workflows, publishing standards, and scalable processes in fast-paced environments. 

• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills with experience collaborating across content, product, marketing, partnerships, and executive teams. 

• Understanding of AI-powered publishing workflows, automation tools, and emerging technologies that improve content operations and audience engagement. 

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and teams simultaneously while maintaining a high standard of execution. 

• Willingness to work a flexible schedule, including nights, weekends, and major NBA events aligned with the league calendar. 

Education: 

Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Media, Marketing, or related field preferred