Senior Vice President, NPR Content Strategy & Business Development

National Public Radio (NPR) is seeking a strategic, deal-driven Senior Vice President to lead editorial reach expansion and enterprise distribution through external partnership strategy. This role connects content initiatives to revenue growth by initiating, negotiating, and executing alliances, while partnering across leadership on OKRs, operational frameworks, and resource allocation.

Key Responsibilities

• Pitch, negotiate, and close high-value content distribution, co-production, and IP licensing deals for network content across platforms.
• Identify and secure deal structures with major digital news aggregators, streaming platforms, newsletter networks, and public media systems to scale audience reach and maximize revenue.
• Collaborate with the CCO to design business models that support financial sustainability, including enterprise member subscriptions, content licensing, and revenue-share frameworks.
• Structure operational agreements for collaborative, multi-newsroom reporting initiatives to align partners while protecting editorial standards.
• Partner with executive leadership to identify grant-funded or corporate-sponsored distribution initiatives aligned to NPR’s broader mission.
• Work with the Chief Content Officer and network editorial leads to ensure business development strategies protect editorial standards and elevate network priorities.
• Manage contract lifecycle activities in collaboration with legal counsel, including intellectual property rights, licensing terms, and revenue-sharing mechanisms.
• Track partnership performance, audience expansion, and net revenue, and provide actionable pipeline insights to the CCO and executive team.
• Refine cross-departmental content workflows to streamline delivery and execution.
• Partner with Finance to direct divisional budgets, track CapEx, and forecast resource needs to maintain fiscal discipline.
• Collaborate with the People Team and Content leadership on organizational design, headcount planning, and resource optimization.
• Lead the definition, tracking, and execution of divisional OKRs to align daily operations with company goals.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in media business development, content licensing, distribution, or syndication within news or digital publishing.
• Proven ability to initiate, negotiate, and close complex, revenue-generating content distribution and licensing partnerships.
• An active network of media executives, syndicators, platform leaders, and distribution decision-makers across digital and legacy media.
• Strong appreciation for independent journalism and the ability to balance revenue priorities with editorial integrity.
• Direct experience structuring IP licensing, copyright agreements, syndication contracts, and revenue-share models.
• Deep familiarity with IP licensing, copyright frameworks, syndication contracts, and revenue-sharing mechanisms for collective and networked content.
• Strong negotiation skills, analytical capability, and clear communication when representing NPR externally.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with senior journalists, newsroom leadership, and legal teams to build commercial partnerships that protect editorial independence.
• Substantive understanding of the public media system, member-supported networks, or federated non-profit distribution models.
• Direct commercial deal-making experience in episodic audio, podcast network syndication, or connected-car and smart-device audio ecosystems.
• Familiarity with public media sponsorship rules, non-profit business parameters, and related FCC regulatory environments.
• Master-level ability to structure complex licensing agreements, distribution terms, and multi-party revenue allocations.
• Proven ability to represent NPR persuasively in high-stakes negotiations with global technology platforms and major media conglomerates.
• Unwavering ethical judgment to ensure commercial initiatives maintain an uncompromised firewall around newsroom decision-making.
• Demonstrated capability to align cross-functional teams, including legal, product, editorial, finance, and station relations, around complex enterprise transactions.
• Sophisticated acumen in analyzing audience consumption data, modeling revenue scenarios, and forecasting emerging market distribution opportunities.
• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communications, Media Studies, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent practical work experience demonstrating equivalent executive capability.

Benefits

• Access to health and wellness
• Paid time off
• Financial well-being
• Medical, dental, vision
• Life/ accidental death and dismemberment
• Long-term disability
• Short-term disability
• Voluntary retirement savings

Work Location and Eligibility

• Location: Washington, DC (hybrid)
• Hybrid requirement: In-office at least 3 days per week in Washington, D.C.
• Residency requirement: Must reside in the D.C. Metropolitan Area, including Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia.

Job Type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Compensation

• Salary Range: USD 290,000 - 350,000 per year (plus benefits)
• NPR Pay Range: $290,000 - $350,000 USD