Sr. Manager, Sales Planning TV Distribution - Canada

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is one of the industry’s leading content providers, producing and distributing programming worldwide in every genre and for every platform. In addition to managing one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPE is home to a thriving global content business, operating a robust portfolio of wholly owned and joint-venture production companies across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, as well as linear and digital channels around the world. 

Sony Pictures Entertainment Canada (SPEC) is made up of Sony Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Digital and Physical businesses. 

Our Canada office has a new opportunity for an Sr. Manager to join their Sales Planning and Operations team to support our TV Distribution Sales team. The Sales Planning and Operations team is responsible for setting and delivering our product distribution strategy, supporting negotiations and delivering the end-to-end sales process.

This position reports to the Executive Director, Sales Planning and Operations.  The candidate will be responsible for managing the licensing of SPE’s extensive catalog across multiple platforms including Free TV, Basic Cable, Pay TV, SVOD, and AVOD/FAST services. The Sr. Manager will supervise one analyst as part of their leadership responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities

Inventory Management, Avails and Pricing:

• Strategically maximize studio revenue by licensing across a diverse range of content buyers and platforms; assessing the impact of licenses on other distribution segments, including other Canadian TV customers (linear, on-demand) and direct-to-consumer transactional sales.
• Collaborate closely with the Sales team to analyze offers and provide pricing recommendations for products and packages.
• Prepare avails reports that include client-specific availability lists, general product availabilities, and scheduled or ad-hoc availability.
• Conduct product research that encompasses asset information, servicing costs, rights, and more.

Data Reporting, Preparation and Analytics:

• Maintain a comprehensive database of all available rights, offers, and pending deals, integrating this information into availability reports and overall offer analyses.
• Synthesize extensive datasets from various systems, internal planning documents, and third-party data into cohesive and comprehensive reports.
• Oversee the management of dashboards that deliver real-time pricing recommendations, along with historical comparison and utilization data for the planning team.
• Communicate complex rights and financial information to Sales, Legal, and Finance teams in a clear and precise manner. –
• Track and analyze on clients’ performance reports, ensuring accurate and timely updates.

Entry and Management of Rights/License Terms and Exclusivity: 

• Ensure the prompt and precise entry of all Canada Distribution agreements across various media and languages, into the rights management systems.
• Expertly interpret and analyze complex contractual payment terms and revenue availabilities.
• Oversee the fulfillment of all output or volume agreement commitments, ensuring compliance with contractual obligations.

Supervision:  Provide mentorship and professional development opportunities for the Sales Planning Analyst, fostering their growth and skill enhancement in sales planning and analytics

Miscellaneous Projects and Deal Maintenance:  Ad-hoc reporting based on the needs of the various departments that we interact with and support.

System Knowledge/Testing:  Will assess all new functionality by running through test scripts to make sure that it does not break pre-existing processes and behaves as designed.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years’ experience in television distribution or content licensing.
• Expert in Microsoft Excel (Pivot table, VLOOKUP’s, IF statements, etc.), PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word
• Ability to build and maintain complex Alteryx workflows
• Working knowledge of Airtable
• Must be detail-oriented and comfortable working with large datasets
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Comfortable speaking up and re-evaluating existing business practices
• Demonstrated experience working in a fast-paced, high-performing team environment
• Highly organized, ability to work under pressure, handle multiple projects and meet deadlines
• Strong knowledge of television landscape and passion for TV series and movies

Preferred:

• Strong understanding of the content distribution marketplace, with significant licensing experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; proficiency in French is a plus.
• Exceptional organizational skills, with the ability to multitask while maintaining attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong problem-solving abilities, with a focus on research and follow-through.
• Proven effectiveness in a cross-functional team environment.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines.
• Capable of working independently as well as collaboratively within a team.
• Demonstrates a sense of urgency, driving issues to resolution.
• Takes accountability for mistakes and implements measures to prevent recurrence.
• Respects established operational responsibilities and processes and actively contributes to improvements when necessary.
• Ensures adherence to quality control procedures and verifies their effectiveness.
• Ability to build trust and foster strong relationships with all stakeholders, particularly within Sales and Finance.
• Willingness to learn and adapt to complex systems in a dynamic environment.