This job listing expired on Feb 17, 2021
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Job Description

About the Role

The New York Times is looking for an Executive Producer for Games to support its fast-growing and expanding games subscription business. You will report to the General Manager for Games, and oversee the daily operations of the Games team. You will manage all games products offered by The New York Times, from our Crosswords, to our newer games like Spelling Bee, to those that we continue to develop and create. This role may be based in New York or remotely.

Why should you apply?

This is an opportunity to oversee the operations of a product that people love: The New York Times Crossword is a unique brand, with a 76-year history and regarded as one of the pre-eminent puzzles on the planet. In the last years, we have expanded our puzzle offering into new games, building on our legacy of creating smart puzzles.

You will get the chance to work on the country’s most popular puzzle, solved by millions of people every day. You’ll be part of a fast-growing team at The New York Times, which has more than tripled its subscriber base in the past five years. You’ll have the chance to shape how the team is organized, how it works, and how its games are created and operated. And as a member of Games team's leadership group, you will inspire and motivate the team to achieve Its goals.

Responsibilities:

  • Oversee daily Operations of the Games team, including cross-functional tasking and execution of squads and sprints; tracking of bugs and tasks, from small features all the way to new game development.
  • Manage the Release calendars for the games software, bringing features and products to market at high-quality.
  • In collaboration with Engineering, Product, and Design, oversee the Roadmap/Backlog process for the team, combining Product’s requirements and priorities, Engineering’s work estimates, and Design’s goals, among other inputs.
  • Either directly or indirectly, ensure trust and collaboration between Games and the Core News teams, around issues of Platform and Technology, ensuring that the needs of the Games team are met, and that there is a clear operating model for how Games and Core News work together.
  • Build trust and relationships with additional partner teams, including Marketing, Insights, Legal, Finance, Talent & Inclusion, and others.
  • Manage the live on-call systems, maintaining the health and operations of the player-facing service.
  • Partner with Engineering/QA to ensure quality control.
  • Oversee the complete resourcing needs of the team and squads, working with the GM and other Leads to balance cost and priorities.
  • Oversee the budget for Games, partnering with Finance and Marketing, focused on expenses, both headcount and non-headcount related.
  • Manage (either directly or indirectly) Producers and Project Managers making up the Games Production/Operations team; nurture and grow your team, providing coaching, while giving your team opportunities to take on more ownership.
  • As an essential member of the leadership team, participate in Leads meetings, and help improve the culture of the full Games team.

Basic Qualifications:

  • Authentically positive attitude that inspires confidence and loyalty from your team; ability to maintain positivity, ownership, and commitment to the mission, even in tough situations.
  • 10+ years of Production experience with live software services, including 7+ years managing Producers or Project Managers.
  • A track record leading the Production discipline on successful products at scale, specifically with mobile and web apps.
  • Industry experience with entertainment, edutainment, games, or other related fields.
  • Prone to action, with an ability to manage complexity across multiple teams and stakeholders, while also tracking a high volume of detail.
  • Scrum-certified and experienced with Agile development process.
  • Proficient in SaaS-based collaboration tools required to lead modern game teams, including G-Suite, Slack, JIRA, and more.
  • Experience working on teams to improve build and release processes.
  • Ability to communicate well across the team, written and oral, and the ability to navigate complex corporate structures.
  • Ability to build consensus with diverse teams, while still ensuring decisions are made with urgency.
  • Experienced creating and delivering presentations to groups.
  • Enjoys puzzles or games.
  • Passion for the New York Times’s mission and commitment to be a part of our innovation and growth.

The New York Times is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce, one that reflects the varied global community we serve. Our journalism and the products we build in the service of that journalism greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which can only come from diversity of all types, across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

The New York Times Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. The New York Times Company will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local "Fair Chance" laws.