Manager, Game Studio Design

The Pokémon Company International•Bellevue, WA

1d•$119,000 - $214,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Game Studio Creative Manager role motivates, mentors, supervises, and supports a team of creatives with diverse skillsets, primarily focused on design like game design and user experience design. This manager provides clear and consistent direction to their directs while helping lead, build, and evolve the overall Creative team’s mission through consistency, transparency, and strategic business alignment. Along with the rest of the Creative leadership team, this manager will help implement our Creative cultural norms - lead with curiosity, build and offer trust, work out loud, and solve the right problems - as the team collectively supports a globally beloved brand.

Requirements

Three+ (3+) years of people management experience, plus seven+ (7+) years experience developing mobile/console video games; preference for demonstrated experience on AAA or live-service games.
Formal training or shipped experience in at least one game-related Design discipline: Game Design is preferred, but will also consider narrative design, UX design, UI design, or related disciplines.
Demonstrated leadership capabilities, both as a leader of teams and as a leader of projects - dynamic, strategic and resourceful.
Experienced in leading creatives in both career growth and strategic planning.
Ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences, and influence at all levels.
Ability to work in a highly matrixed environment and identify, define and resolve organizational issues.
Demonstrable expertise in communicating mobile game industry standards like core loops, FTUE’s (First-Time User Experience), narrative gameplay, and “games as a service” along with a solid foundation in game systems and game economies.
Familiarity with navigating in JIRA, Confluence, and Microsoft Office products.
A mastery of communicating game design through flowcharts, wireframes, concise documentation, defined core loops, mockups, and even through the sheer power of your charismatic storytelling.
Consistent track record of focusing on priorities – frequently aligning with stated strategic goals, problem solving, prioritizing against roadmaps, leading multiple activities, and meeting project goals.
Ability to partner within and across the team to drive successful project outcomes.
Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously, be highly organized with a keen eye for detail, and be able to quickly respond to leadership ad hoc requests and shifting priorities.
Excellent organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills.
Have a growth mindset with the ability to adopt new practices with emphasis on quality and execution.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.

Responsibilities

Develop your team through coaching, providing timely feedback and establish performance and development plans.
Mentor current and future leaders, ensuring a constantly rising bar in technical excellence and professional growth.
Partner with the Creative Director to understand and inform the long-term vision for the Game Studio and our games, and help communicate that vision to the team and your directs.
Drive a culture of change, excellence and innovation which constructively challenges the status quo and leads to prudent experimentation.
Drive the team to self-sufficiency in evaluating and prioritizing work with a mixture of coaching and course-correction as appropriate.
Proactively identify technical, legal, procedural, logistical and communication issues and drive creative solutions to address them and manage risk.
Partner with teams across Game Studio, the Technical Organization, and company based on project need.
Coach Creative employees through the end-to-end production process, helping ensure their feature work is well-supported, high-quality, and aligned with business and player needs.
Understand the full capacity of the team and align on what is considered done.
Develop and manage ideation, design, and delivery schedules, balancing resourcing needs and milestone deliverables at a quarterly viewpoint, with an eye to predictability and risk management.
Contribute to building processes, standardization, and best practices for the Creative team and Game Studio.
Foster a positive team culture based on listening and learning from each other.
Develop the skill sets of direct reports and other team members through knowledge sharing.
Identify, communicate and propose solutions to project risks to the leadership of the company.