Anti-Piracy & Media Trust Lead

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass. Versant Media's Digital Trust & Safety (DTS) team is seeking an Anti-Piracy and Media Trust Lead to lead the design, development, and operationalization of the company's enterprise anti-piracy ecosystem. This is a strategic, hands-on role that blends technical expertise, program management, cross-functional leadership, and vendor oversight to protect Versant Media's content and IP across digital platforms globally. Anti-Piracy Strategy & Program Development Develop and own Versant Media's anti-piracy strategy, including dedicated program charters and enforcement frameworks across content verticals (Sports, News, Podcasts, Entertainment) Define and stand up distinct anti-piracy work-streams, including enforcement playbooks tailored to common incident types Build and maintain a scalable operating model that translates strategy into measurable, repeatable enforcement operations Lead stakeholder alignment efforts across business units, securing formal sign-off on program governance documents Enforcement Operations & Incident Response Serve as the primary point of contact and lead for all anti-piracy enforcement activity, including content takedowns across platforms (YouTube, Meta, and other social platforms) Manage enforcement escalations and coordinate authorized submissions on behalf of talent and executives Route and triage cases using a structured risk framework (Revenue, Reputation, Relationship) to prioritize enforcement decisions Maintain and evolve the Digital Trust & Safety Intake Portal (Jira-based) for content protection and anti-piracy workflows Vendor & Platform Management Oversee relationships with anti-piracy vendors including Vobile, HCL Tech, and others, establishing evidence-pack SLAs and performance tracking Coordinate with YouTube CMS, Vobile asset ingestion workflows, and UGC protective services integrations Negotiate platform enforcement capabilities and limitations directly with platform trust & safety teams (e.g., YouTube, Meta) Evaluate and onboard new vendors or tools (e.g., social media viral clip monitoring, MUSO analytics) to expand enforcement coverage Technology & Infrastructure Build and maintain tooling to support enforcement workflows — including Airtable-based repeat offender tracking systems and intake portals Provide technical recommendations on content protection infrastructure (DRM, ABAC, CMS metadata integrity, hardware protection tiers) Configure and manage piracy-related mailboxes and communications infrastructure (e.g., [email protected]) Support integration of Jira ticketing and Slack-based workflow automation for anti-piracy operations Reporting, Governance & Executive Visibility Produce monthly operational metrics and executive-level Authenticity Score reporting Develop and present the anti-piracy strategy and staffing model to senior leadership, including President-level stakeholders Collaborate with Legal (IP & Music) to ensure enforcement actions are aligned with rights ownership, distribution agreements, and FTC Consent Decree obligations Maintain documentation of all architectural and enforcement decisions to satisfy compliance and audit requirements Piracy Intelligence & Research Monitor the evolving piracy landscape, including piracy-adjacent consumer harms (fraud, phishing, malware, identity theft) Share relevant intelligence across teams via curated feeds and analysis Stay current on anti-piracy technology, enforcement tools, and platform policy changes Media Trust & Content Integrity Monitor digital platforms and social media for AI-generated deepfakes, synthetic media, and manipulated content featuring Versant Media talent, executives, or brand assets Establish detection workflows and escalation paths for synthetic or manipulated content that poses reputational, legal, or safety risks Partner with platform trust & safety teams and AI detection vendors to identify and remove non-consensual deepfakes and misleading synthetic media Develop and maintain a content authenticity framework to verify that Versant Media content in the wild has not been altered, re-contextualized, or weaponized for nefarious purposes Coordinate with Legal and Communications teams on response protocols when manipulated content reaches significant distribution Track emerging AI-enabled threats (voice cloning, face-swap video, synthetic news segments) and advise leadership on proactive countermeasures Evaluate and implement content provenance and authentication standards (e.g., C2PA, digital watermarking) to establish chain-of-custody for published assets CISO Support & Cyber Program Management Serve as a program management resource for the CISO and Cyber Defense Operations team, supporting the planning, tracking, and execution of key cybersecurity initiatives Maintain project plans, status reports, and roadmaps for Cyber-aligned workstreams, ensuring milestones are tracked and stakeholders are kept informed Facilitate cross-functional coordination between Cyber Defense Operations and adjacent teams (Legal, Engineering, Business Units) on security programs with DTS touchpoints Support the preparation of executive briefings, board-level security updates, and risk reporting on behalf of the CISO Required 15+ years of experience in anti-piracy, content protection, digital rights management, or a related fi