Publishing Development Director - Microsoft Studios - EMEA Central Management Job

Job Title Publishing Development Director - Microsoft Studios - EMEA Central Management Job
Job Category Programming
Skills Required Programming
Location London
Job Description Job Category: Software Engineering: Development
Location: London, GB
Job ID: 829722-106229
Division: Interactive Entertainment Business

Publishing Development Director
Microsoft Studios - EMEA
Interactive Entertainment Business: Europe, Middle East, Asia (EMEA)
Location: Guildford, United Kingdom
Package: Competitive Salary + Bonuses + Benefits

Role Purpose
EMEA Publishing is a new group within Microsoft Studios tasked with creating platform defining experiences through highly collaborative partnerships with external developers. While our focus is on European opportunities, our impact will be global with a special emphasis on exploring new business models based on the fundamentals of games as a service. By partnering with the most innovative EMEA developers and delivering the best and most surprising game experiences, we will play a key role in transforming the way consumers engage with our platforms and gaming content.

You will be one of the founding members of this dynamic group, helping to define the process and culture of how we engage with external and internal partners to deliver on high quality product that sets the foundation for platform defining services.

You will work closely with an EP and Business Manager as part of the senior leadership team to own the ‘how’ of how products will be delivered and then run as a service.

Team/Department
Reporting to the Executive Producer

Key Accountabilities and Responsibility
In this role you will…
- Drive delivery of AAA ‘games as a service’, by directing and managing project development with clear predictability and financial sustainability in partnership with external and internal stakeholders
- Provide leadership to external teams to guide team structure through a projects lifecycle from inception to launch through to service and eventually sunset
- Regularly brief and present project status, risks and mitigation plans to senior studio and executive level teams
- Drive team effort effectively within a highly creative environment filled with strong personalities, ambitious goals and moving targets
- Work with internal and external stakeholders to define project scope, goals and deliverables. Track and manage these project deliverables
- Define project success criteria and disseminate them to involved parties throughout projects life cycle
- Facilitate communication between internal and external teams/stakeholders to help ensure development alignment across a project lifecycle
- Line manage and mentor a Project Management team
- Balance internal development processes with external processes to ensure a smooth working relationship with Microsoft and external partners.
- Mitigate risks and remove blockers by sourcing and utilizing internal expertise to its fullest effect
- Assess and track risks for the project, pro-actively developing strategies for addressing all identified risks
- Partner with external developers to align on scoping, scheduling, tracking and reporting of production to ensure alignment with all internal stakeholders
- Collaborate with the external partners to provide a detailed plan of costs through a product lifecycle
- Validate all project budget projections (incl. headcount/contractor and prod-dev. spend)
- Track actual spend against predictions for the project
- Continually work to drive profitability through efficient use of internal funds and resources
- Assess external partner capabilities and drive mitigation plans for any shortfalls
- Ensure projects are built with long term production and fiscal sustainability in mind

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential Experience
- Strong understanding of project management software tools for tracking, scheduling and reporting
- Strong, current knowledge of production methodologies and principles; including running games as a service
- Highly experienced having successfully delivered multiple complex development projects with high customer expectations and demanding partners
- Worked with external partners to deliver product, experience in distributed development also a huge plus
- Experience of managing continual online deliverables and sustained development e.g. games as a service
- Proven ability leading multi-discipline teams
- Successful track record of performance managing direct reports.
- Experience of recruitment and selection at various levels within business
- Experience in external partner management including assessing capabilities and influencing change to achieve desired results
- Experience of balancing the resource needs of multiple projects
- Experience of working with outsource partners. A thorough understanding of the pipelines and processes required to achieve a successful, efficient production cycle from inception to sunset
- An understanding of basic revenue models and P&L
- Personal Attributes/Interpersonal Skills
- Highly enthusiastic, with a positive and team oriented attitude
- Strong leadership skills, challenges others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor
- Good written and presentation skills
- Authoritative and confident; must be able to constructively give an opinion with all levels
- Able to communicate effectively with varied personality types
- Diplomatic handling of disputes and excellent negotiation skills
- An eye for sources of risk
- Ability to manage and develop these skills in others

Special Requirements/Additional Information e.g. Language Skills
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer and supports workforce diversity
Microsoft’s privacy statement can be viewed on the following web page: http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/default.mspx
Salary Competitive Salary + Bonuses + Benefits
Date posted 15/03/2013
Recruiter This job is advertised on behalf of Microsoft Studios (UK) using their internal reference 829722-106229.
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