Director, Operation/ Production Safety

Job Description

As the APAC Director, Operation/ Production Safety for the WBD International High Risk Team (IHRT), you will be responsible for overseeing all security-related activities within the CNNI APAC region. This includes ensuring that risks and safety concerns are clearly understood and mitigated for deploying newsgathering personnel and conducting other high-risk WBD operations.

You will lead the security efforts in the APAC region while closely collaborating with the broader WBD International High-Risk Team, which provides round-the-clock coverage for CNN operations.

Your duties will include assisting in planning high-risk tasks, advising senior managers and field teams, and developing/reviewing risk assessments for teams in the field, often at short notice due to breaking news and in potentially hostile or remote environments. You must make quick and precise decisions under pressure in complex and ambiguous situations, delivering advice with tact and influence. The aim is to achieve the news objectives while ensuring that risks are well understood, communicated, and mitigated wherever possible.

Additionally, this role requires deployment to complex, challenging, and sometimes austere environments. You may support a field team directly, act as a forward security coordinator for large deployments, or respond to regional crises such as construction projects, company events, natural disasters, or civil unrest. While based in APAC, global deployments are occasionally required to support APAC-based teams operating outside the region. Comprehensive knowledge of global hostile environments is essential. You must be a proactive, self-motivated independent self-starter, adept at building relationships crucial for effective security implementation in CNN operations. This role is integral to successful newsgathering in the region, often contributing directly to high-impact stories and coverage.

Your Role Accountabilities
• Serve as the principal safety representative for CNNI in APAC, engaging with newsgathering field teams and bureaus.
• Review and suggest enhancements to security procedures and policies, coordinating with the Director of IHRT for approval.
• Deploy in direct support of field teams, as an operational security lead, or in response to crisis incidents, often reacting to breaking news and sometimes outside the region.
• Maintain expertise in conflict and disaster environments, utilizing intelligence and open-source intelligence (OSINT) to inform risk-conscious newsgathering.
• Manage non-technical equipment, ensuring all items such as 'go-bags,' PPE, and field supplies are functional and well-maintained.
• Ensure that CNN staff receive appropriate hostile environment training. The DOS is responsible for overseeing vendor training and personal training as necessary.
• Collaborate with CNNI Management to maintain and update emergency response plans, policies, and procedures for CNN's APAC bureaus and offices.

Qualifications & Experience
• 7+ years of experience managing staff
• Background in managing security in dynamic environments such as natural disasters, political, and civil unrest
• Proven track record of working with editorial teams on planning field assignments
• In-depth knowledge of the regions where teams may be deployed
• Strong field experience and decision-making skills under pressure
• Effective leadership skills, capable of leading a diverse team, often under the stress of breaking news
• Excellent communication skills, adept at providing clear and concise updates and directions
• Strong decision-making capabilities, able to quickly assess and address situations effectively
• Proficiency in computer skills at an intermediate level.

Championing Inclusion at WBD
Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of our society and the world around us. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.

If you're a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rbv85x-3-145-141-5-42 in your application.