Kickstarter is seeking an experienced Head of Games, Outreach to lead our Games team. The Head of Games, Outreach manages a category-focused team that engages with and advocates for Games creators in the global creative communities we serve.
You will manage a team responsible for one-on-one relationships with both new and returning creators, making the case for Kickstarter and assuring that we are aligned with their needs. You will use in-depth knowledge of the Games category and Kickstarter to define our approach to providing strategic guidance to creators, helping them bring their projects to life and get the most from our platform and community.
As the central touchpoint for priority creators and Kickstarter’s resident expert and representative within Games, you may handle escalations and coordinate across functional areas of the company, including Marketing, Brand, PR, Customer Support, Trust and Safety, Product, Growth, Insights, and Events.
Beyond routine needs surrounding creator relationships, you will collaborate with key stakeholders across the organization around strategic initiatives like events and open calls, owning the outreach portion of this work and using your category expertise to inform the company’s strategic approach. This is a people manager role.
The salary for this role in the United States is $120,000 – $140,000.
In This Role, You Will
- Connect with promising creators in the Games category who could use Kickstarter to bring exemplary projects to life.
- Develop and own strategies for retaining priority creators and contribute to strategies for reaching new creators.
- Track creator conversations in category of focus using Kickstarter’s CRM and maintain SLAs around considering priority creators for curation and outreach support.
- Use data tools to analyze trends and performance.
- Help creators craft strong campaigns, advise on launch strategy, and connect them to Kickstarter’s service partners and other relevant category ecosystem resources.
- Develop and refine category-specific educational resources and surface to appropriate creators, in collaboration with Brand Marketing, Community Support and other teams.
- Establish and strengthen relationships with partners in the category ecosystem to build Kickstarter’s referral pipeline (accelerators, publishers, agencies, etc).
- Contribute to strategy for events within the Games category, informing which to prioritize.
- Attend events as a representative of Kickstarter, communicating with creators and industry audiences both one-on-one and through public speaking opportunities.
- Make the case for Kickstarter in a competitive funding landscape and gather intelligence about alternate paths to funding creators are pursuing.
- Serve as an internal champion for the needs of Games creators, surfacing Voice of the Customer feedback around product, policy and experience to internal stakeholders and collaborating on cross-team initiatives that aim to improve creators’ experiences.
- Use Kickstarter’s Games-focused curation channels to celebrate creators’ work and coordinate marketing features on brand channels for priority creators in their category of focus.
- Build, lead, and develop team members; work with them to define their career development plans, setting specific goals, monitoring and providing feedback on performance, and motivating them to achieve results as part of their growth
- Lead inclusively and foster a safe environment.
- Engage in people management related tasks in support of Kickstarter’s policies and processes.
About You
- You have at least 8 years of professional experience in and understanding in the tabletop games industry – a network of connections with the community and industry knowledge. The ideal candidate will have significant business operations experience with a tabletop games company serving a large audience. This could be as a founder, key employee, or service provider. Video game industry experience is a plus but not required.
- You have a demonstrated ability to create and execute on strategic plans that get data driven results. This includes setting and tracking goals and budgets that align with company and team strategy.
- You have exceptional communication skills: you are adept at speaking and presenting to small and large groups, speaking to the press, and have the ability to represent Kickstarter in a positive light at industry events.
- You have demonstrated public leadership within the tabletop games industry through organizing or playing a central role at key events, developing a compelling online presence, writing thought pieces, and making other meaningful contributions to helping independent creators succeed in their industry.
- You have a demonstrated ability to manage a team, coaching and training staff, and setting clear expectations for performance.
- You have a demonstrated ability to play a leading role in cross-team initiatives, collaborating with key stakeholders across departments.
- You have an expert sense of what makes projects within their category of focus standout – ability to assess quality, innovation, creativity, and clarity of presentation when reviewing a campaign independently.
- Bonus points if you are a creator within their category of focus, entrepreneur, and/or Kickstarter creator.
- Bonus points if you have professional experience and connections within an area of potential for Kickstarter (i.e. a domain where we don’t already have a strong audience.)
What You’ll Enjoy
- A fully remote workforce with plenty of opportunities to get to know your colleagues
- 100% employer-paid health plan offerings
- 16 paid vacation days, 10 sick days, and a company-wide winter break between Christmas and New Years
- 25 volunteer hours each year to give back to your community
- 16 weeks of parental leave plus fertility/family planning resources
- Kickstarter currently operates with a 4-day workweek, a model that aligns our belief in a healthy work-life balance and gives staff the space to be more than their work
- Incredibly talented and inspiring colleagues who know how to blend their creative endeavors into their work
Our Fully Virtual Team
We’re currently able to support employees based in the following US locations: CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OR, VA, VT, and WA. We’re also able to support employees in the United Kingdom. If you live in—or are willing to move to—any of these locations, we look forward to your application! If there is a required or preferred location for an open role, it will be listed in the job description.
Kickstarter is an equal opportunity employer. As part of our commitment to fight for equality, we work to ensure a fair and consistent interview process. We celebrate diversity and we are committed to an inclusive work environment.
Reminder to applicants: Authentic communications from Kickstarter will always originate from official Kickstarter email domains (@kickstarter.com). Exercise caution and verify the legitimacy of anyone who claims to be representing Kickstarter on other platforms.