Workplace Engineering Manager, Unified Communication

• Full-time
• Business Segment:
  Versant O&T
• Compensation: USD 150000 - USD 170000 - yearly

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, Golf Now and Golf Pass.

As Workplace Engineering Manager, Unified Communications (UComm), you will be the engineering and architectural owner of VERSANT’s enterprise communications ecosystem. This role is designed for a Unified Communications leader with deep telecom and collaboration experience, focused on building resilient, secure, and scalable platforms—not general IT operations or software product delivery.

You will define and evolve the architecture for enterprise voice, video, messaging, and A/V systems across VERSANT’s global footprint. Core platforms include Slack and Zoom as primary collaboration tools, Cisco-based VoIP services, Zoom Phone integrations, and physical telephony used as the critical continuity layer during VoIP or network outages in support of GSOC strategy.

You will lead a UComm engineering organization that includes a VoIP-focused offshore team, while working closely with onshore A/V, workplace experience, and facilities partners. Your role is to establish technical standards, resiliency models, escalation paths, and security controls, enabling consistent execution and predictable behavior during both normal operations and incident scenarios.

A key near-term responsibility is helping us shape the communications and A/V architecture for VERSANT’s new HQ, defining a modern, state-of-the-art blueprint that will be standardized and deployed across 20+ global locations. This role reports to the Senior Director of Workplace Engineering and partners closely with Workplace Product & Operations, Cyber Security, and End User Compute Engineering.

Basic Requirements:

• Proven experience leading Unified Communications or Enterprise Voice engineering teams, with ownership of platform architecture and technical standards
• Strong experience operating Slack and Zoom as enterprise collaboration platforms in large-scale environments
• Deep technical expertise with Cisco Unified Communications, including:
  • VoIP architecture, call routing, and survivability design
  • Integration with Zoom Phone or comparable cloud telephony services
  • Physical phone deployments (e.g., Poly or equivalent)
• Strong understanding of PSTN architecture and carrier services, including:
  • Redundant call paths and failover design
  • Physical telephony as a continuity mechanism during VoIP outages
• Experience designing and owning GSOC-aligned call flows and escalation behavior, including emergency routing and outage scenarios
• Extensive experience with enterprise A/V systems, including:
  • Conference room and telepresence architecture
  • Networking considerations (QoS, VLANs, bandwidth planning, redundancy)
  • Device and hardware standardization
• Experience leading UComm engineering teams, including offshore VoIP engineers
• Strong cross-functional collaboration experience with:
  • Workplace Product & Operations
  • Cyber Security
  • End User Compute Engineering
• Ability to define and enforce clear ownership boundaries across workplace technology domains

Desired Characteristics:

• Background as a telecom, UComm, or workplace communications engineer prior to people leadership
• Experience designing HQ or flagship office communications environments used as global reference architectures
• Strong security-by-design mindset, including voice security, signaling protection, identity integration, and device trust
• Demonstrated ownership of vendor strategy, including technical evaluation, roadmap influence, and lifecycle planning
• Active engagement with emerging UComm platforms,…