Senior Game Product Manager

Jackbox Games is looking for an exceptional Senior Game Product Manager to join our team in Chicago and help us shape the future of an Unannounced 3D Online Party Game.

Who are We?

Jackbox is a small game studio (~75 people) best known for our Jackbox Party Pack franchise: a set of five social party games released every fall. Since 2014, our games--like Quiplash, Drawful, and Trivia Murder Party-- have been featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, by Polygon, and in living rooms and finished basements across the world.

In 2020, we had over 200 million users. And we have hard evidence that one of those users was Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron.

You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about how our games work (spoiler: your phone is the controller!) and who we are and what we make at jackboxgames.com.

What’s the Job?

The Game Product Manager is the one person directly responsible for leading a cross-functional game team to success.  They have a player-focused self-driven self-directed entrepreneurial mindset that recognizes and acts on opportunities, makes decisions with limited information, and remains adaptable and resilient in uncertain and complex conditions.  Game Product Managers evaluate opportunities for delivering business value, weighing them against the constraints they are given, such as the budget, schedule, and capabilities of the team, to make sure the team is focusing its energy on work that can truly make an impact.  The Game Product Manager is also accountable for the entire landscape of a game’s development beyond the “what” which includes the topology, culture, and values that drive how the team communicates and works together.

Responsibilities

• Develop and continuously refine a strategy and roadmap with game and studio leadership that aligns with studio goals and focuses decision-making.
• Build a deep understanding of our business, the competitive landscape, and our players to demonstrate strong judgment in assessing value, risk, complexity, and priority.
• Work within a budget and schedule to ensure the game team has the capability to deliver on its goals or to negotiate for support or make trade-offs to get there.
• Analyze qualitative and quantitative data to identify trends and key learnings that drive innovation toward measurable goals.
• Gather constant feedback from players and stakeholders to generate insights that inform decisions to improve the game’s features and business strategy.
• Manage stakeholder needs and expectations on progress or changes in risk, budget, schedule, or priority of goals.
• Demonstrate the ability to clearly present, evangelize, and build consensus around opportunities, ideas, and innovations you and your team think can make an impact.
• Lead your game team to develop strong structure, culture, health, and processes for how the people within the team organize, communicate, and work together to meet their goals.
• Deliver results in a fast-paced environment and find creative ways to get things done.
  

Ideal Candidates Will Have...

• 5+ years of experience in the game industry shipping titles.
• Experience leading or collaborating closely with a full cross-functional game team including designers, engineers, and artists.
• Exemplary communication skills, social and emotional intelligence, and empathy.
• Exemplary data-driven decision-making and analytical skills.
• Passion for games and creating fun player experiences.
• Experience in revenue and monetization strategy within the gaming industry, or in building and optimizing LiveOps games with online multiplayer or matchmaking components.

We value kind, motivated, and creative people. Jackbox Games is a group effort and you must work collaboratively. Everyone here is committed to excellence and desires to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere.

Jackbox Games is committed to providing opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, ancestry, age, veteran status, or disability.

OKAY, BUT WHAT ARE THE PERKS?!

• Pay range: $124,500 - $181,069. Please note: individual compensation packages are based on factors unique to each candidate and position, including (but not limited to) skill set, experience, and qualifications.
• 401(k) with matching. And we pay 100% of the cost of premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance for our employees. We also cover a really nice chunk of the cost of premiums for spouse/partner/dependent medical, dental, and vision insurance. 
• Flexible work schedule and environment. Currently, our employees are encouraged to work where they feel the safest and most productive. Our office in Lincoln Park in Chicago is open (and fully stocked with snacks) for folks who prefer to work in the office. We also offer remote work in the following states: California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
• Flexible PTO. Take time off when you need to recharge, take a trip, or just catch up on life.
• Annual stipends for therapy, education, wellness, and home office equipment to encourage our employees’ lifelong learning pursuits and support mental and physical health.
• Creative work environment. We are lucky to work in a place that is full of talented and innovative folks. Most of the day, the place is pretty quiet (we’re a focused bunch), but this is punctuated with hilarious outbursts and general merriment.
• Free food either virtually or in the office. We stock our kitchen with snacks as well as offer doordash credits quite frequently.

Interested?

Great, we look forward to reading your application. Please include:

• Your resume.
• A cover letter. You don't need to be a professional writer for this job (we have those) but communication is important so we weigh cover letters heavily. You can (and should) write more, but we won’t evaluate applicants that don’t at least answer these two questions:
• Why are you interested in working at Jackbox Games?
• What is your favorite game and why? There's no right answer, we mostly just want to know if you've read this far.

On the fence? If you're interested in the job but worried you aren't qualified, we encourage you to err on the side of applying. We'd hate to miss out on great candidates just because they're worried they don't check every box on the job description.

We know it is a time commitment to prepare an application and we respect that effort by thoughtfully reviewing every complete application and responding one way or the other. But that kind of thoughtful review means that it sometimes takes us a while to get back to applicants, so please be patient with us and no phone calls.

Thanks for your interest in Jackbox Games!