Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centred on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission.

Here is your opportunity to play a central role in managing titles and partnerships within Microsoft’s high-profile Gaming business, through the end-to-end production lifecycle for all Xbox platforms. The Global Creator Partnerships Team is hiring a Production Partner Manager (PPM) based in North America, to develop relationships and deliver a best-in-class service to 3rd Party gaming developers and publishers throughout the game production lifecycle.

This role requires a candidate with a the ability to manage multiple partner relationships and games at various stages of their lifecycle whilst upholding outstanding attention to detail. Knowledge of the production lifecycle for console and PC games is essential, from concept through certification, release and post-release management. An understanding of Microsoft’s gaming strategy and how this aligns to publisher and developer goals is desirable.

The ideal candidate will have relevant experience, communication skills, relationship management, project management, prioritisation, and collaboration skills. You should be comfortable managing escalations involving internal and external senior stakeholders and collaborating with senior PPMs to support partners through challenging or high business impact scenarios. Familiarity with the Xbox release cycle, tools and processes will help you build trusted relationships and successfully manage a portfolio of games.

The role will be based in the North America, with 0-25% of time for travel to partners or industry events.

Responsibilities

Relationship and Production Management of Gaming Partners 

Collaborate as part of an internal account team, which may be regional or global, to build and maintain relationships with gaming creators. Ensure global inclusion and support in communications. 
Partner with gaming creators to strategically plan and support their submission and content roadmaps for games on both Xbox consoles and PC, to prepare them for successful launches. 
Manage high priority/complex releases with internal and external partner teams 
Act as a primary point of contact for all account-related queries and redirect or escalate to appropriate teams as necessary. 
Support external partners with regular updates on tools, processes and business priorities.

  Support the Game Production Lifecycle with Operational Excellence 

Collaborate with gaming creators to understand their production roadmap and to make recommendations for critical milestones in the release process such as when to be ready for certification. 
Support partners with the processes to create and onboard new products, review certification submission materials and provide configuration guidance and assistance for product releases. 
Educate partners on processes to prepare for all types of releases including how to acquire age ratings, prepare Store assets, configure pricing and release dates, set up bundles, pre-orders, game demos and betas. 
Oversee the end-to-end release process including management of certification submissions, publishing of content to the Microsoft Store and release of physical products for manufacture. 
Understand and make recommendations to partners on product lifecycle management including pre-orders, ongoing updates to games, post-sale monetization and additional content releases. 
During a high priority escalation, take accountability to consistently ensure handover between regions until the issue is resolved.

Advocate for Tool and Process Improvements 

Represent partner feedback with clarity to Microsoft stakeholders on tools and processes. 
Collaborate with the global Production Partner Management team to influence change to the tools used day-to-day by both internal and external partners, to support the evolution and growth of Gaming requirements.

Escalation Management  

Prioritize and represent escalations from internal and external partner teams. 
Log and manage escalations to Microsoft engineering teams, to unblock partners and mitigate risks to critical milestones.

Collaborate with Internal Partner Teams for Gaming Creator Success 

Partner closely with internal Microsoft teams across Game Pass, Marketing, Strategic Partner Management, Developer Partner Management and Business Development to represent a unified approach on gaming partnerships. 
Understand the priorities and business requirements of individual publishers and developers and work as an account team to create and deliver a strategy to maximize the impact of our gaming partnerships. 
Understand and communicate risks to internal stakeholders, to plan for and accommodate changes in any individual game’s lifecycle.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Operations, Business Supply Chain, Finance, Business Management, Accounting, Human Resources (HR), Organizational Development or related field AND 4+ years Operations or Process Design or Program/Project Management experience
- OR equivalent experience.
2+ years of experience in the interactive entertainment industry, either in a production, submissions management, business or related field
1+ year(s) of experience in game development and the game production lifecycle.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Operations, Business Supply Chain, Finance, Business Management, Accounting, Human Resources (HR), Organizational Development or related field AND 8+ years Operations or Process Design or Program/Project Management experience
- OR Master's Degree in Management, Business Administration, or related field AND 6+ years Operations or Process Design or Program/Project Management experience
- OR equivalent experience.
3+ years’ experience in project or program management, with global and regional stakeholders. 
Experience managing multiple projects or accounts simultaneously.
Experience working with the Xbox platform and ingestion/publishing tools. 
Experience working within a frequently growing and evolving business.

Launch Management IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $91,800 - $178,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $117,900 - $195,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.