Senior Manager Games Partnerships

Team: Games Partnerships & Activations

Activity: Full-time

Role grade: Senior Manager (7)

Direct reports: 0

Indirect reports: 0

Reporting to: Director Games Partnerships & Activations

Role location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Job Purpose:
As the Senior Manager for Games Partnerships & Activations, you will lead the strategic direction of all publisher-facing marketing across the Esports World Cup and Esports Nations Cup. You will own senior relationships with publisher marketing and publishing leads, define co-marketing strategy with our internal marketing units, and serve as the guardian of EWC's co-branding and creative frameworks. Your role is to translate publisher roadmaps, game moments, and business goals into integrated, multi-channel fan experiences that strengthen both publisher IP and the EWC & ENC platform. You will guide internal teams and agencies, negotiate alignment at senior levels, and ensure that every publisher's presence across broadcast, festival, in-game, and digital channels delivers against our KPIs and long-term strategic vision.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Own senior-level studio and publisher relationships with our top game studio and publisher partners, setting shared objectives and long-term co-marketing direction across both the Esports World Cup and Esports Nations Cup.
• Define the strategic approach to publisher co-marketing in collaboration with internal marketing teams, ensuring all joint campaigns, key beats, and channel plans align with the event calendar, publisher product roadmaps, and our KPIs (viewership and festival footfall).
• Serve as the final approver and authority on the publisher co-branding framework while working with your commercial counterpart to ensure these standards are accurately reflected in contracts.
• Lead the strategic development and approval of the publisher IP integration into all consumer-facing activations, ensuring that each publisher's tournament, festival, in-game, and digital presence contributes to a coherent fan journey.
• Author and approve high-impact creative briefs for top publishers and key campaigns
• Set the strategic role of in-game presence for each publisher/IP
• Shape the festival presence of publisher partners, setting expectations for narrative fit, prominence, and fan experience, and by aligning with the Festival team on standards with a focus on brand/story
• Lead the resolution of high-stakes publisher, studio, and game IP brand and marketing topics
• Define marketing and engagement success metrics for each publisher partnership
• Present strategic marketing and narrative insights to publishers and internal leadership, influencing how publishers position their IP within EWC/ENC
• Lead a small team, delegating ownership of day-to-day publisher campaign execution while retaining strategic oversight and final decision-making on narrative, co-branding, and senior relationships.
• Drive the creation and continuous improvement of playbooks, templates, and best practices for publisher co-marketing, brand governance, and IP integration, ensuring the model scales across future EWC and ENC cycles.

Education and Experience

• 7+ years of experience in gaming, entertainment, esports, or a closely related digital ecosystem with a focus on publisher partnerships, game studio relations, or IP-driven co-marketing.
• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or a related field.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Prior experience of working for a game publisher or studio is strongly preferred
• Strong network within the gaming industry with major game publishers and developers
• Proven ability to engage senior-level publisher stakeholders and secure alignment on how their IP is positioned within our platform.
• Extensive experience shaping joint activation frameworks that balance partner objectives with our overarching product and marketing priorities.
• Capable of directing internal teams by articulating partner expectations and safeguarding the strategic intent behind each collaboration.
• Track record of working inside large publisher organizations and bringing multiple teams together so they speak with one voice toward our event.
• Sharp instinct for identifying high-impact opportunities that elevate partner IP at EWC and ENC in meaningful and scalable ways.
• Ability to translate partnership agreements into structured execution paths for internal teams and external agencies.
• Strong ability to build durable relationships with senior publisher leaders grounded in credibility, strategic clarity, and mutual benefit.
• Have a strong analytical mindset, comfortable defining success metrics, interpreting campaign performance, and turning data into clear recommendations.
• Is fluent in English, an excellent communicator and relationship builder, and has a willingness to mentor more junior team members.

Nice to have:

• Experience working at/with gaming conventions with on-ground activations
• In-depth knowledge of the Saudi Arabian gaming culture
• Fluent in Arabic, Chinese/Mandarin, Korean, or Japanese

Benefits

• Relocation support
• Transportation allowance
• Competitive compensation
• Housing allowance
• VIP medical insurance
• Opportunity to work on a new exciting project with a group of passionate professionals. You will get the freedom to excel and make a real impact

Diversity disclaimer
Our mission is to build a diverse organization where our members, regardless of background or identity, have a sense of belonging. We genuinely believe that thanks to creating a collaborative environment where different perspectives are valued, we can achieve more. Together, we want to reshape the boundaries of what is achievable in the esports domain.