Niantic Labs, creator of hit games including Pokémon GO, Monster Hunter Now, and Pikmin Bloom is seeking a Director of Product to help develop the future of Monster Hunter Now by building high quality gameplay experiences that delight and engage our avid players. We’re a fast paced, multi-disciplinary team of game makers, software developers and creative professionals based in Tokyo, San Francisco, and Seattle. You will be responsible for driving the product roadmap and end to end game vision, ensuring new features deliver on both improving KPIs and player experience for years to come. Your role will be central in living up to the bold vision for Monster Hunter Now while helping merge the virtual with the real world and inspiring people to explore together!
Responsibilities- Collaborate with Design, Production, Data, and game leadership to set strategic pillars, roadmap priorities and associated KPI goals
- Set the bar for strong game product thinking, reviewing, improving and occasionally creating Product Briefs and specifications for key features
- Organize Product Reviews, providing feedback and coaching to ensure excellent, mission aligned product design for all features
- Take accountability for driving KPI impact via launching and optimizing product roadmap features, sequencing and timing
- Drive market analysis, user research, and knowledge sharing across the team to drive more effective decision making
- Work hand in hand with Design, UX, Engineering and Production to appropriately scope features, optimizing for ROI without compromising quality or player experience
- Collaborate with Live Ops leadership to ensure every feature is accretive to and accounted for in the live ops and season structure
- Collaborate with IP holders to ensure brand integrity and generate concepts that resonate with fans
- Collaborate with cross-functional team members and customers, including regular and reliable attendance and participation in key meetings
- Act as a driver of culture on the team, fostering learning, teamwork, player centricity, and excellence with an outcome oriented approach
- Required in-office 3 days per week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
- 7+ years product leadership experience in free to play gaming
- Track record of operating and scaling successful free to play mobile games post-launch
- Experience building roadmaps and shipping KPI impacting features
- Deep understanding of game economy and live operations in midcore games
- Management experience across creative and analytical fields including Product, Design, Live Operations and Production
- Expertise with analyzing and interpreting data to make data informed decisions
- Excellent verbal and written communication in both English and Japanese
- Ability to manage, coach, and lead by example to develop team members
- Flexibility in a demanding team environment
- Passion for video games; an avid gamer with a confirmed understanding of mobile games
- Have worked on a high profile game with a significant amount of daily active users
- Ability to work in a fast-paced hybrid environment and handle stress appropriately and ability to solve practical problems and be sufficiently adaptable to handle dynamic situations with little advance notice
- Experience working on cross-functional teams with ability to communicate effectively through written and verbal communications, including asynchronous interactions with others
- Belief in the value of bringing people together through games to explore in the real world
- Based in, or be able to relocate and work in Japan
Plus If...!
- Deep understanding and/or fandom of the Monster Hunter franchise
- Familiarity as a player with Monster Hunter Now, Pikmin Bloom, and/or Pokemon Go
- Experience, interest, and excitement around AR games or features
- Experience in other related fields such as UX Design, Engineering, Data, Production or Game Design
Niantic's global-scale augmented reality platform and digital map powers spatial computing experiences in the real world. Incubated out of the Maps team at Google, Niantic first created Ingress and then Pokémon GO, a cultural phenomenon and hit game played by tens of millions of people each month. Niantic’s platform, which powers Pokémon GO, also supports the company's other games including Pikmin Bloom, Monster Hunter Now.
We believe that cultivating a workplace where our people are supported and included is essential to creating great products our community will love. Our mission emphasizes seeking and hiring diverse voices, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the technology industry, and we consider this to be one of the most important values we hold close.
Niantic is a hybrid first company. We believe that in person interaction and collaboration fosters creativity, a sense of community, and is critical to our future success as a company. Our hybrid work schedules allow for a mix of remote and in-office work.
We're a hard-working, fun, and exciting group who value intellectual curiosity and a passion for problem-solving! We have growing offices located in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, London, Tokyo, and Zürich. #LI-HYBRID
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What We Do
Niantic is the world’s leading AR technology company, sparking creative and engaging journeys in the real world. Our products inspire outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interaction.
Originally formed at Google in 2011, we became an independent company in 2015 with a strong group of investors including Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Alsop Louie Partners. Our current titles include pioneering global-control game Ingress, record-breaking AR game Pokémon GO, and recently released third title, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
