Senior Manager, Business Operations

The Senior Manager, Business Operations plays a key role in supporting the financial health and operational effectiveness of ISTE ASCD’s Integrated Content division, overseeing budget strategy, managing business relationships, and coordinating deliverables across journalism, research, and multimedia production. This position project manages grant-funded initiatives, ensures analytics and audience engagement data are translated into actionable insights, and works closely with the Managing Director, Integrated Content to identify opportunities to strengthen efficiency, grow grant funding and advertising revenue, and ensure the long-term financial sustainability of ISTE ASCD short-form content.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

1. Business Development Strategy and Operations

• Manage the department's budget and business strategy, overseeing forecasting and reconciliation and striving to attain advertising and sponsorship revenue.
• Support team in external partner (client) invoice work, contract and agreement fulfillment, including monitoring and approving contractor invoices.
• Represent Integrated Content internally and externally with cross-functional partnerships, colleagues, peer organizations, and industry stakeholders.
• Play a lead role in managing operations, defining audience strategy and development, website auditing, and analytics reporting.
• Serve as the point of contact and signatory for internal and external programs and processes (including social media accounts).

2. Philanthropic Revenue Support

• Support relationship maintenance with funders (led by the Strategic Partnerships Team) by preparing materials, coordinating communications, and ensuring follow-through on commitments.
• Work closely with the ISTE ASCD Strategic Partnerships Team to align resources and support cross-organizational philanthropic initiatives.
• Compile and present audience engagement and impact data to support grant reporting and funder communications.

3. Earned Revenue Support

• Manage relationships with third-party vendors, overseeing contract and agreement compliance, monitoring revenue and sales performance against established goals, and proactively identifying strategies to grow and optimize advertising and sponsorship revenue.
• Provide support to Creative Studio team in implementing the delivery of sponsored content.

PRIORITY WILL BE PROVIDED TO CANDIDATES LIVING IN THE DC METRO AREA(MD, DC, or Northern VA); you will be REQUIRED to come into the Arlington, VA office one day per week.

Knowledge

• Bachelor's degree required, ideally in education, business, nonprofit management, or a related field.
• Familiarity with grant processes and philanthropic funding cycles.
• Business development knowledge, especially in mission-driven or nonprofit contexts.
• Familiarity with HubSpot, Salesforce, Asana, and Google Analytics.

Skills and Abilities

• Excellent data, financial analysis, and reporting skills.
• Strong organizational skills: managing and tracking multiple overlapping projects and relationships with varied deliverables.
• Ability to navigate potentially competing interests and find areas of alignment across teams with different functions and priorities.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex content strategy and impact data into clear, persuasive narratives for philanthropic partners and internal stakeholders.
• Strong systems orientation with a track record of implementing and enhancing tools and processes, developing new solutions, and staying well-informed of new and emerging options.
• Capability to operate within lean environments with limited resources and the need to create new processes.
• Proficient with Google Suite, budgeting software, project management tools, and remote-work team software.

Critical Success Factors / Leadership Attributes

• Must be able to create value for the organization.
• Possesses the ability to make meaning by keeping others well-informed on key issues.
• Applies learning by seeking new knowledge from a variety of disciplines and addressing obstacles immediately and directly.
• Recognizes the importance of acting together by encouraging imagination and creating opportunities for others to step up and contribute.
• Executes accountably by creating clear plans to achieve goals and monitoring costs, progress, and results.
• Continuously reinvents by demonstrating the ability to adapt and change.
• Leads self by setting a personal example of authenticity and inspiring others.

Experience

• 5–10 years of work experience across education, business operations, partnerships, and project management.
• Experience coordinating or project managing grant-funded initiatives; familiarity with philanthropic funding in education journalism or research is a plus.
• Experience working in or alongside digital media, journalism, or content organizations preferred.
• Experience managing department or divisional budgets.
• Experience with analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics) and a track record of using audience data to inform strategy and reporting.