Operational Planning Manager

About the Role & Team

Disney’s Direct to Consumer (DTC) team oversees the streaming businesses within the Disney Entertainment segment, helping to bring The Walt Disney Company’s (TWDC) best-in-class storytelling to fans and families everywhere.

The Business Operations team is tasked with critical areas of operating the growing Disney Direct-to-Consumer organization, including strategic solution design, planning / program management and execution of major business initiatives, effective communication and reporting across the organization, business intelligence and decision support, and implementing procedures and processes to help Disney grow, operate and run the company’s streaming services efficiently and at scale.

The Commerce & Partner Operations team is comprised of 3 verticals, each critically responsible for the global growth, profitability, scalability and ongoing operations of TWDC’s Direct-to-Consumer business, including our suite of streaming services (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+) and bundled and add-on offerings. The team is also critical in shaping strategies and requirements for expanded capabilities and offerings to serve and grow our customers around the globe.

·       The Commerce Operations team manages the payment infrastructure and enables the sale of subscription plans, bundles, and add-ons across the Disney DTC portfolio. The team also executes critical business initiatives such as price changes and related messaging events.

·       The Partner Operations team is tasked with the execution of direct-to-consumer promotional offers globally across external partnerships, synergy efforts and internally driven campaigns that support the growth and profitability of the TWDC DTC streaming business (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and the Disney Bundle). They are responsible for the end-to-end process of executing and launching partnerships and synergy offers, including intake and operational execution required for launch readiness.

·       The Gifting Solutions team is responsible for the Disney+ and Hulu gift card businesses as well as other gifting products offered, including Enterprise Sales and white glove service for VIP accounts.

What You Will Do

Reporting to the Director of Commerce & Partner Operations, The Operational Planning Manager will work with team leads on critical launch planning and management. This includes managing operational tasks, such as copy and creative asset management, legal approvals, maintaining accurate briefs for campaigns, supporting initiative and resource planning, reporting, workflow assistance, and creating communication materials for executives and partners. Additionally, the position requires collaboration with Product and Engineering teams to document requirements for new features, troubleshoot Commerce & Promo-related issues, and execute the DTC promotional strategy across various channels, ensuring effective planning and coordination to improve team operations.

The candidate will be critical in supporting strategy and planning across the team’s verticals while helping to drive alignment and decision-making with senior leadership. This person will also support each of the 3 team leads with operational functions where resourcing is needed and as such will be cross trained operationally in all 3 functions of the team with dotted line reporting into each of the team leads.

This role will uniquely support 3 teams and will have dotted reporting lines to 3 managers across the Commerce & Partner Ops organization.

● Commerce Operations

● Promo & Partner Operations

● Gifting Solutions

The role will involve dealing with complex operational details, project management skills and cross-functional collaboration across various teams both internal and external to The Walt Disney Company.

Responsibilities

·       Collaborate, organize, and align with multiple team leads to create optimal launch planning and management.

·       Managing critical projects by handling operational and complex tasks such as copy and creative assets, legal approvals, and maintaining source-of-truth briefs for campaigns.

·       Coordinating initiative, milestone, and resource planning, reporting, workflow support, and communications with executives and the business through clear, concise, and professional presentations and materials.

·       Partnering with Product and Engineering teams to create, document and communicate requirements for expanded features and troubleshoot multifaceted Commerce & Promo incidents effectively.

·       Manage and align the DTC promotional strategy across various multifaceted channels, including web, email win back campaigns, third-party partnerships, and product retention tactics.

·       Manage maximum volume and velocity in team operations through support, recommendations and partnership on initiative and work planning.

·       Analyze complex details of tooling and processes while balancing and incorporating the business impact.

·       Has and maintains strong knowledge of Commerce infrastructure and offer models, effectively communicating complex and intricate technical details to various business teams and executives.

·       Partners closely with multiple technical teams across Product, Marketing, Commerce, Customer Service, Engineering, Legal, Finance, and Enterprise Consumer Payments, bridging functions and seniority levels.

·       Coordinate and collaborate globally across regional and commercial teams for various needs, as well as navigating a complex, global corporate matrix effectively.

Required Qualifications & Skills

·       4+ years of experience in business operations, account management, project management, or a similar field.

·       Broad operational or process management background.

·       Strong project management, organizational, and communications skills.

·       Comfortable navigating a matrixed organization and a global network of internal and external partners.

·       Comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic working environment, supporting new products and businesses.

·       Strong project management skills and a highly organized self-starter with excellent communication, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

·       Experienced with project management tools such as Atlassian JIRA, Confluence, and Airtable.

·       Proficient in Google Office Suite, particularly Google Slides, with expertise in creating professional data visualizations.

·       Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite.

·       Highly skilled in executive communication, including presentation creation, concise memos, and polished email etiquette.

·       Able to work internationally across time zones with a focus on global scalability.

·       Effective in oral and written communication, with strong problem-solving abilities.

·       Excellent interpersonal skills that foster strong working relationships.

·       Adaptable to fast-paced environments, supporting new products and initiatives.

·       Proficient in analyzing tools, infrastructure, processes, and requirements to align them with business impact.

Preferred Qualifications

·       Experience in digital subscriptions and/or the sports and entertainment industry is a plus.

·       Preferred experience in the entertainment field, particularly in streaming.

·       Commerce or payment-related experience is preferred.

Education

·       Bachelor’s degree in a business-related field.

Additional Information

·       Based in New York City, available to work in-office up to 4 days a week, with flexible hours for critical launch events.