Chief Engineer

Description

A television station in Birmingham, Alabama, home to NBC and CBS affiliates, is hiring a Chief Engineer to lead the engineering team and run daily station operations in a live broadcast setting.

You will plan, organize, document and complete work while collaborating with the other department heads. The role reports to the General Manager and works with the company Television leadership.

The ideal candidate has strong broadcast and teamwork experience, cares about serving the local community, and is motivated by the industry's ongoing change, including AI. You will need to motivate a high-energy team and show success with budgeting, capital planning and personnel management.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the engineering team, covering staffing, scheduling, AI adoption, performance feedback, technical training and on-call coverage.
• Set priorities and service standards for engineering, build working relationships across departments, and explain technical problems and their effect on operations in plain terms.
• Work with the General Manager and station leaders to line up technology plans with local news, production and business needs, and with the company Television standards.
• Oversee reliability, maintenance, troubleshooting and lifecycle planning for broadcast, newsroom, production, automation, master control, media storage, network, streaming and transmission systems.
• Look after transmission and RF facilities, studios, control rooms, remote production gear, and critical infrastructure such as generators, UPS units and HVAC.
• Lead engineering response during live programming, breaking news, severe weather and outages, managing recovery and follow-up.
• Make sure FCC, EAS and other applicable regulatory and industry obligations are met, with accurate records, scheduled tests, inspections and prompt corrective action.
• Keep up preventive maintenance, equipment inventory, technical documentation, safety practices, emergency preparedness, backup power and disaster recovery plans.
• Work with the company Television and enterprise IT on cybersecurity, network resilience, access practices and business continuity for station systems.
• Build and manage operating and capital budgets, equipment replacement plans, vendor relationships, service contracts and engineering projects from proposal to completion.
• Assess and roll out improvements to IP-based workflows, automation, cloud or hybrid services, streaming and other new technology without putting reliable on-air operation at risk.
• Use approved AI tools where suitable for technical research, summarizing logs and documentation, spotting workflow gains and organizing maintenance or project information. Check all output before use and follow company rules for confidential, employee and operational data.
• Review major technical incidents, find root causes, record corrective actions and apply the lessons to improve reliability.

Requirements

• At least 7 years of steadily growing responsibility in television broadcast engineering, media technology or a closely related technical field, including leading or supervising technical staff.
• Working knowledge of television broadcast systems, RF transmission, studio and newsroom technology, automation, IP-based media workflows, and applicable FCC and EAS rules.
• Experience planning technical projects, managing budgets and vendors, prioritizing equipment lifecycle needs, and coordinating work across departments.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex systems, make sound calls under deadline pressure, and explain technical issues to technical and non-technical colleagues alike.
• Ability to support live operations, and to work occasional nights, weekends, holidays or emergencies when the station needs it.
• Education, training or experience in broadcast engineering, electrical engineering, information technology, electronics or a related field. The company Television will consider a college degree, trade school diploma, professional certificates, military training or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with broadcast automation, IP video and audio, streaming, cloud or hybrid media systems, cybersecurity practices and emergency planning is valued, as are relevant certifications such as SBE.
• Related military experience will be considered.

Conditions

The company Television is an organization that values collaboration, open communication and accurate, authentic storytelling connected to the communities it serves.

Benefits

• The company's benefit programs are modern and flexible, and extend to your spouse, partner or dependents.
• Medical, dental and vision coverage.
• 401(k) matching.
• Emotional wellness support.
• Paid time off.
• Paid parental leave.
• LGBTQ+ health services.
• Additional benefits to meet your and your family's needs.