Story Development & Editorial Manager (Licensed IP)

Moonbug Entertainment • New York, NY

3d • Onsite

About The Position

Moonbug Entertainment is seeking a creative leader for the Story Development & Editorial Manager (Licensed IP) role. This position, reporting onsite in the New York office, sits within the Franchise division and has key responsibilities across the Consumer Products & Experiences (CP&E) Publishing division. The role serves as a consultative and editorial bridge across the entire business, ensuring a unified and compelling voice across all IPs for books, game scripts, podcasts, product descriptions, and character bibles. It requires an expert storyteller capable of transitioning between high-level franchise strategy and granular manuscript editing.

Requirements

• Proven track record of managing, writing, or editing for major, top-tier global entertainment franchises and licensed properties.
• Extensive experience structural editing and copyediting across diverse formats—spanning story and chapter books, comic books, interactive game dialogue, and script writing.
• Experience creating story for different markets, with a focus on US and UK.
• A portfolio demonstrating the ability to write and judge copy for both physical products (Publishing/Consumer Products) and digital experiences (Gaming/Audio).
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to push back on external partners or defend narrative decisions to C-suite executives and creative directors.
• An understanding of how narrative drives consumer behavior, product sales, and global brand loyalty.

Nice To Haves

• Preferably experienced in developing stories for children aged 0-7.
• Additional Languages.
• Coordinate seamlessly across multiple international time zones (particularly UK and US - NY & LA).

Responsibilities

• Act as the central editorial powerhouse, driving storytelling excellence across six key business pillars: Publishing (global fiction, non-fiction, comic/graphic novel narrative content development, originating narrative stories, writing manuscripts, ensuring lore accuracy, approving final print text), Audio (editorial direction on podcast scripting, audio drama narratives, audiobook development and adaptation), Books (guiding audiobook development with licensees, originating audiobook stories), Podcasts (influencing storytelling and narrative in the Moonbug podcast catalogue), Wider Consumer Products (weaving narrative into physical products), Brand (ensuring consistency across Character Bibles and narrative content, supporting creative team in developing comprehensive Character Bibles), Studio & Production (sharing narrative content, influencing stories for a cohesive IP ecosystem), and Gaming (collaborating on world-building, dialogue trees, game lore, and in-game text).
• Scale stories across multiple categories seamlessly, ensuring a unified "canonical" universe while respecting the unique formatting needs of different media.
• Review and approve narrative copy from external global partners and licensees to protect brand integrity.
• Champion bold, original storytelling ideas and identify opportunities to expand Moonbug franchises into new formats, platforms, and consumer experiences.
• Act as a creative catalyst across the organization, proactively bringing forward innovative concepts that strengthen our brands and unlock new opportunities.
• Pioneer next-generation approaches to franchise storytelling and audience engagement, thinking beyond traditional publishing models.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed