Reporting to the VP of Sponsorships, the Head of eSports and Gaming will lead the development, strategic planning and execution of Verizon’s gaming and eSports efforts across all platforms. The Director will lead a high performing team focused on bringing the Verizon brand, businesses and products to life across a wide range of activations and live events. This person will drive relationships with key partners, while identifying ways to grow the eSports and gaming portfolio while developing and extracting maximum value out of holistic partnerships. Key to this role is the management of stakeholder relationships across the company. This executive will create programs to drive value and engage with Verizon’s consumer and business segments. The Head of eSports and Gaming is a key member of Verizon’s activation team, responsible for driving a massive growth area that enables Verizon to build engaging experiences in a creative, focused environment. You will create a legacy.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Lead strategy and development of eSports and gaming platforms; including developing partnerships across leagues, teams, events, influencers, and content.
Develop multi-platform programs that drive value for Verizon across B2C, D2C, and B2B.
Drive best-in-class reporting and analytics, including the evaluation of trends of top new games and eSports content producers.
Orchestrate stakeholdering and deployment of gaming strategy across internal lines of business (Consumer, Business, Verizon Media Group)
Develop, manage and maintain relationships across gaming ecosystem partners.
Manage ROI, and communicate trends in the eSports and gaming space, while communicating quantitative metrics and business trends as they relate to partners.
Lead, develop and maintain a strong talent pipeline.
Maximize Verizon’s partnership portfolio and identify additional areas on how to engage with fans across eSports /gaming, while enabling measurement of the return and effectiveness of investments.
THE TYPE OF LEADER WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Collaborative: Ability to manage Sr. level direct reports across diverse competencies.
Results-driven: Laser focus on building a customer-centric organization that achieves marketing excellence and delivers measurable financial results.
Innovative: Understanding of the next-gen customer and ability to drive new ideas and strategies.
Empathetic: Deep innate understanding of business and customer needs with an ability to translate this to an improved creative, thus elevating the brand and customer experience.
Ambitious: Eager to tackle the organization’s toughest problems.
Entrepreneurial: Talent for initiating innovative organizational changes, combined with a “get things done” attitude.
Excellent communication skills: Can articulate complex concepts to a diverse audience.
Culture-driven: Takes ownership of nurturing a customer-centric culture at Verizon.
Mentor: Natural ability to guide and coach other employees to achieve their potential.
A Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or 15+ years of related work experience (a Master’s degree or MBA is preferred).
8+ years of experience within the gaming and eSports industry on the client side or at an agency.
Highly analytical person who is able to collect and interpret data in order to understand and influence trends and business drivers specifically in gaming and eSports.
Demonstrated experience working with 3rd party vendors and suppliers, managing vendor relationships.
Proven experience managing multiple activities at the same time in a fast-paced environment.
Excellent written and verbal communications skills with the ability to communicate to all levels of an organization, crisply and succinctly.
Solid understanding of the gaming and eSports ecosystem, marketing communications, and new emerging platforms (i.e. mobile, digital, social).
Relationship cultivation and management, asset execution and imparting creative consistency amid internal/external stakeholders.
A proven record of innovation through sponsorships/partnerships.
A strong and genuine passion for eSports and gaming.
