About Citizen

Citizen is the No. 1 public safety app in the U.S., with a mission to make the world a safer place. Citizen provides 911 alerts so people can use their phones to keep themselves, and the people and places they love, safe. Citizen has notified people to evacuate burning buildings, deterred school buses from nearby terrorist attacks, and led to the rescue of kidnapped children and missing people. 

Citizen’s 911 alerts are accompanied by live stories, real-time updates, and user-generated content so app users never have to wonder why there are helicopters overhead or fire engines passing by. By broadcasting from the scene of an incident, communicating with one another, and reading live updates, communities are empowered by Citizen. We act fast, break news, and give people the immediate information they need to stay safe. And we’re just getting started.

Already relied on by millions of people every day, Citizen will expand even further across the United States this year to keep more users safe and informed. We’re looking for hardworking, mission-driven individuals to help bring Citizen to hundreds of cities nationwide.

Citizen is backed by Sequoia Capital, 8VC, Founders Fund, Goodwater Capital, and Greycroft and has raised tens of millions in VC funding.

About the Role

We are seeking a Director of Operations, Safety & News to lead our rapidly growing Mission Control, the 24/7 incidents newsroom that is the heart of the Citizen App. This person will provide creative oversight, editorial leadership, and overall management for the real-time safety content on Citizen. Our Mission Control team includes nearly 100 talented, detail-oriented, and creative individuals with diverse backgrounds in journalism, analysis, public safety, and writing.

The role requires a relentless pursuit of accuracy, depth, humility, and innovation, enhanced by a combination of best practices and a vision for the future. The Director of Operations, Safety & News will report directly to our Head of Central Operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the daily operation of Citizen’s 100 person, 24/7 Mission Control team to guide national and local safety and news coverage in hundreds of cities.
• Supervise the editorial standards and best practices of 2,000+ incidents created daily by the Mission Control analyst team.
• Oversee and work daily with Operations Managers across three shifts to lead and coordinate local safety alerts and major breaking news stories 24/7.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration across different teams focused on specific domains, e.g. police, fire, ems, weather, COVID-19, natural disasters, local news, and more.
• Be a champion for an innovative, diverse, and highly-collaborative team culture that promotes solution-driven idea generation, open communication, and teamwork.
• Recruit, develop, train and retain talent throughout the Mission Control team. 
• Identify effective and efficient approaches and processes across the daily operation and help the team iterate on these practices to constantly promote growth and progress.
• Manage and allocate resources to achieve strategic, operational, and budgetary goals.

Qualifications

• A proven leader with 10+ years experience managing a large (100+ person) 24/7 newsroom or operations center interacting with the public.
• Demonstrated leadership skills with proven ability to effectively manage, lead, and develop a diverse team of people into a cohesive high-performing team; previous experience managing a large remote team is a plus.
• Highly collaborative and a superior communicator with strong personal credibility to build trusted relationships and influence and achieve buy-in across levels and audiences.
• Proven ability to make decisions on editorial judgment, daily content, complex operations and logistics in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong operational background and a track-record of analytically setting goals and then leading, inspiring, and motivating others to deliver and measuring results.
• Flexible and open to constantly-changing priorities and managing multiple tasks simultaneously within tight time frames.
• Ability to think outside the box, innovate, and lead the team periods of rapid growth.

Citizen is a fully-distributed team that offers a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, paid time off, company holidays, stock options, and various wellness perks.

Citizen is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all.

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