Production Manager, Art Cosmetics | Overwatch - Irvine, CA

Team Name:

Overwatch

Job Title:

Production Manager, Art Cosmetics | Overwatch - Irvine, CA

Requisition ID:

R027765

Job Description:

Are you passionate about creating exceptional games that captivate players? Do you have a deep understanding of Blizzard game development and a desire to lead teams towards success? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you on the Overwatch Team at Blizzard Entertainment! As the guardian and hero of our beloved game, you will play a crucial role in driving production excellence and ensuring the timely delivery of high-quality cosmetics for our players.
 

We are seeking an experienced Production Manager to join our Overwatch team, specializing in Cosmetics. In this role, you will play a pivotal role in the delivery of game-ready assets for Overwatch. We are looking for individuals who possess outstanding production skills, excel in organization, possess exceptional communication abilities, thrive in managing schedules for complex projects, and has experience leading a team. In this role, we expect a passion for the Overwatch universe and a sharp focus on the production and ongoing development of our in-game content, alongside proven ability to manage, mentor, and elevate a team of producers.
 

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.
 

Responsibilities:

• Lead cosmetics production for Overwatch, partnering with game leadership, product, art, design, engineering, marketing, and production to ensure cosmetic strategy is focused, aligned, and executable.
• Own alignment between cosmetics strategy, roadmap ambition, development capacity, and execution realities, ensuring the team is focused on the right priorities and set up to deliver successfully.
• Partner with production and discipline leadership to identify resource gaps, scaling needs, process friction, and organizational risks, ensuring the cosmetics production model can ramp alongside the team’s ambitions.
• Manage and mentor a team of producers, including annual reviews, providing guidance and support to ensure project goals, objectives, milestones, and deliverables are achieved.
• Ensure the team has an optimal organizational structure, streamlined processes, and effective practices that enable efficient and timely delivery of high-quality work at the scale and quality bar expected of Overwatch.
• Oversee the delivery of art assets required on a regular cadence for cosmetics, ensuring accurate tracking, clear ownership, proactive issue resolution, and readiness before launch.
• Collaborate closely with internal and external departments including regional partners, managing schedules and deliverables, facilitating alignment across stakeholders, and holistically solutioning to move the cosmetics pipelines forward.
• Take ownership of successful product launches and live operations, coordinating your team’s work and facilitating the integration of sophisticated cosmetics features with other teams.
• Understand broader game, product, and business goals, and drive complicated tradeoff decisions involving art, product, production, development, and other partner teams.
• Assume responsibility for the schedule, working with discipline leads to determine the time, resources, and capacity required for project completion. Develop and maintain project plans, schedules, and roadmaps, considering dependencies across multiple teams.
• Communicate project status, risks, tradeoffs, and decision points transparently to stakeholders, ensuring they are properly advised of any impacts from upcoming releases. Collaborate frequently with the production team, project leads, and game leadership on project status, risks, and opportunities.
   

Minimum Requirements:

• 6+ years of production/project management experience in game development, including at least 4 years focused on cosmetic art production; demonstrated experience managing and mentoring producers; and strong proficiency with asset tracking and project management software, including Autodesk Flow.
• Deep understanding of game development, art workflows, and dependency chains.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, coupled with excellent communication skills when interacting with stakeholders at various levels.
• Extensive experience in a problem-solving environment, where each new challenge is seen as an opportunity for success.
• A self-starter who approaches challenges creatively and methodically, seeing them through to final resolution.
• Ability to drive high-velocity, high-impact development cycles, effectively balancing short-term needs and long-term vision.
• Adaptability and effectiveness in new situations within a