Senior Director of Broadcast Engineering and Operations

SUMMARY

Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) is seeking a Senior Director of Broadcast Engineering and Operations to lead the Broadcast Engineering & Technology department. This position owns the department's overall strategy, staffing structure, operational expense and capital equipment planning, and is accountable for both the technical architecture and the live game-day execution that support all PS&E productions, including Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, and Noblesville Boom events.

The Senior Director builds and sustains a department that functions as both a service team and a strategic technology integrator for Gainbridge Fieldhouse - providing a clear technical career path from interns through senior technical leadership, separating engineering architecture from game-day execution, and serving as the department's primary voice in company-wide venue production technology decisions. This role serves as the executive link between broadcast engineering and the CIO/CTO on enterprise venue production technology needs.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Duties and responsibilities of this role include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

Department Leadership & Structure

• Own the Broadcast Engineering & Technology department's overall strategy, org structure, and staffing plan, including the technical track (Senior Broadcast Technology Engineer, Broadcast Engineers/Technicians, IPTV and Broadcast Engineer, Seasonal Associates, and Interns) and the game-day track (Live Venue Production Manager, Senior Broadcast Operations Engineer, Production Technicians/Associates).
• Maintain clear separation between engineering architecture ownership and live event execution leadership, and ensure both tracks have a visible, documented career progression.
• Recruit, hire, and develop department leadership, including backfilling or promoting internally for the Director and other future-state roles as the department scales.
• Set performance expectations and conduct leadership-level mentorship and succession planning across both tracks.
• Own the department's job descriptions, title structure, and role expectations, updating them as the department evolves.
• Budget, Capital Planning & Vendor Management
• Own the department's operating budget and capital equipment planning, aligning purchases and upgrades to NBA/WNBA season timelines and venue technology roadmaps.
• Evaluate and prioritize capital equipment requests from the technical and game-day tracks, balancing day to day event needs against longer-term systems architecture investments.
• Manage relationships with broadcast equipment vendors, integrators, and outside broadcast/production partners, including contract and procurement oversight.
• Partner with Finance and the CIO/CTO to secure and justify capital and operating budget for department initiatives.

Technical & Operational Oversight

• Provide executive oversight of engineering standards, systems architecture, and complex broadcast, IPTV, and A/V infrastructure decisions across Gainbridge Fieldhouse and related PS&E facilities.
• Ensure game-day and event technical execution - including production trucks, outside broadcast partners, and in-arena crews - meets PS&E and league standards for every event.
• Maintain oversight of the NBA HSAN relationship and NBA broadcast standards compliance, including Basketball Video Coaching facilities.
• Approve SOPs, technical reference documentation, and systems drawings maintained by the technical track.
• Ensure adequate staffing and technical readiness for the full PS&E event calendar (Pacers, Fever, Noblesville Boom, and other Fieldhouse events).

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in broadcast engineering, telecommunications, media technology, or a related field required; advanced degree a plus.
• Ten or more years of progressive broadcast engineering and/or broadcast operations experience, including at least five years in a people-management or department-leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading both technical/engineering teams and live event/game-day operations teams, ideally within a live sports, entertainment, or broadcast venue environment.
• Experience owning a department budget and capital equipment planning cycle.
• Strong working knowledge of broadcast television fundamentals, systems architecture, IP-based (SMPTE 2110) production environments, and IPTV/AV infrastructure.
• Experience partnering with IT, security, facilities, and executive leadership on cross-functional technology initiatives.
• Prior experience with NBA or other professional sports league broadcast standards and HSAN systems strongly preferred.
• SBE certification desired.

Language Skills:

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret complex instructions, contracts, and technical reports. Ability to write executive summaries, department strategy documents, and formal correspondence, and to effectively present to senior leadership, the CIO/CTO, and outside partners.

Mathematical Skills:

Ability to build and manage department budgets and capital plans, including cost analysis, forecasting, and area/time-base calculations relevant to broadcast systems.

Reasoning Ability:

Ability to define department-level problems, weigh competing priorities across engineering and operations, and draw sound conclusions that balance technical risk, cost, and event-day readiness.

Problem-Solving Requirements:

Employee must be a self-starter who exercises independent, executive-level judgment on department strategy, staffing, budget, and cross-functional technology issues. Employee is expected to make final decisions on department priorities and to represent those decisions to the CIO, CTO, and other executive stakeholders.

PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:
• Sit, stand, walk
• Use a telephone and a computer
• Attend games and events, including evenings, weekends, and some travel
• Occasionally move about production areas, including catwalks - a strong fear of heights is not advisable

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The noise level in the office work environment is usually moderate, and the noise level in the Fieldhouse/game environment is usually loud. As the department's senior leader, this role carries accountability for event-day outcomes, and the stress level may become high during certain times of the year, particularly around season openers, playoffs, and capital planning cycles.