Media Technical Directors/Managers
Coordinate activities of technical departments, such as taping, editing, engineering, and maintenance, to produce radio or television programs.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Communications and Media
- Computers and Electronics
- English Language
- Telecommunications
- Engineering and Technology
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Test equipment to ensure proper operation.
- Monitor broadcasts to ensure that programs conform to station or network policies and regulations.
- Observe pictures through monitors and direct camera and video staff concerning shading and composition.
- Act as liaisons between engineering and production departments.
- Supervise and assign duties to workers engaged in technical control and production of radio and television programs.
- Schedule use of studio and editing facilities for producers and engineering and maintenance staff.
- Confer with operations directors to formulate and maintain fair and attainable technical policies for programs.
- Operate equipment to produce programs or broadcast live programs from remote locations.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (92.1% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (48.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (61.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Media Technical Directors/Managers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 27-2012 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 95% of occupations compared | 94% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 53% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 91% of occupations compared | 77% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 67% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 99% of occupations compared | 86% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 88% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 58% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 50% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 6.38%
- Constant contact with others: 93.62%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 22.71%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 6.02%
- Very important: 16.68%
- Extremely important: 39.46%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.36%
- Very important: 22.87%
- Extremely important: 76.77%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 21.63%
- Some freedom: 25.73%
- A lot of freedom: 52.64%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.08%
- Every day: 85.92%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 6.14%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16.89%
- Every day: 30.66%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 5.78%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 27.87%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 2.12%
- Every day: 0%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 21.44%
- Fairly serious: 11.32%
- Serious: 33.66%
- Very serious: 17.37%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 27-2012.05 · SOC 27-2012 (detailed_parent, medium confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8