Senior Manager, Business Partnerships

Overview

A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide.

Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Application Instructions or Deadline

Apply by submitting your application, brief cover letter, and resume. In your cover letter, please tell us about your experience managing client accounts and business relationships.

Deadline to apply: 11:59 pm EST, June 14th, 2026

Intro to Position

NPR is seeking a strategic, relationship-driven leader to serve as a high-impact contributor in our Member Partnership division as a Senior Manager, Business Partnership. You will be responsible for overseeing a portfolio of NPR Member organizations, driving account development, and accelerating the adoption of our digital products and programming. The ideal candidate is a skilled relationship builder and savvy business manager who can negotiate agreements, synthesize complex financial data, and foster deep cross-departmental collaboration to maximize value for both NPR and our station partners across the network.

Responsibilities

Account development and growth:

• Oversee the relationships and value proposition for the NPR Member organizations in an assigned portfolio.
• Generate new leads and assess opportunities for placement of NPR programs on station platforms and digital products & services on station and NPR platforms.
• Contribute to the development of core strategic marketing messages about NPR content, services and initiatives; and deliver those messages to station partners and stakeholders.
• Achieve program revenue, program carriage, digital product revenue and digital services adoption goals.
• Develop sound, two-way working relationships with internal stakeholders and subject matter experts, supporting their outreach efforts to station partners. Identifies station partners for pilots and initiatives across NPR divisions.
• Represent NPR in-person at industry conferences and meetings as required.

Business management and organization:

• Gather pertinent financial information, negotiate fees, and devise and operationalize the onboarding workflow for individual station’s adoption of these programs and products.
• Process and deliver legal agreements pertaining to the business relationship with stations. Discusses license compliance rubrics and performance with station partners and NPR’s Legal department as needed.
• Maintain station relationship data and present it as needed in the form of dashboards, reports, presentations and meetings. Advises NPR leadership team on the status of station business relationships.

Cross-departmental collaboration:

• Coordinate with colleagues in the Content division on news coverage plans and programming issues and communications as assigned.
• Develop productive working relationships with colleagues in NPR divisions to support station partnership goals.