Director of Business Strategy & Planning, Game Content & Studios
Microsoft
Director of Business Strategy & Planning, Game Content & Studios
Redmond, Washington, United States
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Overview
At Microsoft, our mission is to enable every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more. In Microsoft Gaming’s Game Content and Studios division, we support this mission by bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone. We are home to some of the most iconic franchises in gaming history: Age of Empires, Call of Duty, Candy Crush, DOOM, Fallout, Forza, Gears of War, Halo, Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls, World of Warcraft, and more. We believe when everyone plays, we all win.
The Director of Business Strategy & Planning is a critical role reporting to the GM (General Manager) of Business and Product Management for the Game Content & Studios Business & Operations organization. This role reports to the GM of Business and Product Mgmt. for GC&S and is responsible for driving strategic collaboration and planning with our marketing and business leaders across our studios and business units. Your impact is delivered by driving strategic planning based on analysis of market performance. Success in this role requires the ability to frame and analyze complex problems, uncover insights, solve problems creatively, communicate clearly, and collaborate across a diverse set of stakeholders.
In the end, it’s the people of Game Content & Studios that make this place truly special. When you join, you’ll find yourself in the company of incredibly bright, warm, and creative individuals – all united and working toward a single goal. Come help us reach it!
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Master's Degree in Business Administration or related field AND 4+ years marketing, strategy, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Liberal Arts, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years marketing, strategy, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience
- OR equivalent experience
- 4+ years experience in Strategy, Management Consulting, and/or Finance
Preferred Qualifications:
- 8+ years progressive business/portfolio management experience
- Digital commerce experience
- Knowledge of video game industry
- 2+ years at a top-tier strategy consultancy or investment bank
- 2+ years Management experience
Business Strategy IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $251,900 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 $165,600 - $272,300 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 26, 2025.
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Responsibilities
Creating Clarity of Perfomance and Success Metrics
- Ensure leadership always has a clear understanding of progress against core goals, including engagement, monetization, Game Pass impact, and franchise health by standardizing and improving dashboard views and generating insights.
- Develop and maintain a single source of accepted and validated truth regarding accountable outcomes for investments, with alignment and acceptance from studio teams.
Portfolio Performance Tracking and Collaboration
- Partner with studios, business units, and Finance to rigorously track progress against portfolio key performance indicators (KPIs), covering financial outcomes, player engagement, and portfolio return on investment (ROI).
- Collaborate with studios and business units to identify and close gaps against goals, continually optimizing performance.
- Demonstrate strong organizational, communication, and decision-making skills, essential for regular interactions with international business partners and business unit leadership.
- Work closely with internal stakeholders to manage complex product initiatives.
Risk, Opportunity, and Product Alignment
- Own risk and opportunity management, driving course-correction in partnership with business units.
- Work in partnership with leadership and stakeholders throughout product development to ensure alignment of products with business objectives, consumer needs, and licensing standards.
- Generate actionable business insights to support timely portfolio decisions regarding cost, quality, lifetime value (LTV), and strategic fit.
Growth Strategy, Analytics, and Market Insights
- Drive growth strategy, business analysis, SKU planning, and monetization.
- Collaborate with analytics teams to create actionable business intelligence plans.
- Lead consumer research by integrating diverse data sources into key insights.
- Assess market trends and competition to identify portfolio opportunities.
- Coordinate among leadership, development, publishing, and licensing partners to facilitate collaboration.
Strategic Initiatives and Expansion
- Steer multi-year strategies, roadmaps, and expansion initiatives to grow the business through both regional and global expansion of features, services, and offerings.
- Drive operational programs to help broad teams of collaborators throughout our studios organizations to increase their value.
Portfolio Management
- Grow the business by leading its regional & global expansion across a wide range of potential new features, services, and offerings.
- Manage revenue and recommend/implement key decisions on quality, cost, and timing for marketing programs and products under parameters set by leadership
Data Analysis
- Apply analytics to design, update, and upgrade business models for existing and upcoming projects.
- Help change, create, monitor and affect basis/metrics for deeper understanding of player behavior focused on, but not limited to player churn, average revenue per user & per paying user (ARPU & ARPPU), lifetime value (LTV), advanced demographic study, player segmentation, social mapping, and more.