Influencer Manager

Hybrid Work Model

#LI-hybrid

Job Summary:
Reporting to the Community Director, the Influencer Manager plays a key role in supporting the continued success of SEGA’s many Ips and brands globally across various businesses, including games, consumer products, animation, and beyond.

The Influencer Manager supports the Community and Brand Marketing team by developing creative and strategic influencer marketing and communications plans for some of SEGA’s largest brands including Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, Metaphor, and Crazy Taxi. Responsibilities include campaign planning, content development, agency coordination, and influencer and community engagement.

This position is a unique opportunity to help the SEGA brands thrive while supporting the success of others and sharing the love of SEGA brands with content creators across the globe. The ideal candidate brings seven or more years of Influencer Relations or Community Management experience within the gaming, entertainment or consumer products industries and is passionate about entertainment and games.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Partner with Brand Marketing, Community, and Public Relations teams across the Americas and EMEA to lead and drive the overarching creator strategy and campaign narrative for a variety of SEGA brands including Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, and Crazy Taxi.
• Identify and forge partnerships with top-tier creators, influencers, and agency partners across diverse platforms focusing on brand alignment.  
• Evaluate and manage negotiations for influencer partnerships including contracts and budgets to optimize ROI while adhering to compliance and organizational priorities.
• Act as a strategic partner to global internal teams (Licensing, Partnerships, Brand) and key external partners (Film/TV/Streaming/Animation/Business Partners) on influencer activation support as needed.
• Collaborate regularly with wider teams to identify opportunities for engaging influencer-focused content that will expand audience reach and fan engagement.
• Grow and nurture the SEGA brand’s fandom ensuring reach across all segments of diverse players and achieving strong growth and engagement across all creative programs.
• Plan and coordinate live and virtual events that utilizes creators and community participation to support the growth of SEGA brands while also contributing to their own growth.
• Create exciting opportunities for creators to work with the SEGA brands to aid in Brand-related campaigns.
• Develop and manage an in-house Influencer Program,  including creating and distributing creator kits , to support content creators across Sonic and other SEGA brand releases and activations.
• Serve as the point of contact for SEGA-related content creators and influencers across the Americas, EMEA, and LATAM.
• Collaborate with Digital Marketing team to align on paid, owned, and earned influencer marketing strategies.
• Partner closely with the Community team to manage and develop Sonic’s influencer-facing channel presence across social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
• Collaborate with Product Marketing teams to align Influencer strategy such as creator selection and support game initiatives.
• Establish and track KPIs such as reach, engagement, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost (CAC), and creator ecosystem growth metrics.
• Analyze campaign performance and apply data-driven insights to optimize influencer strategies.
• Prepare data-driven reports and presentations that summarize campaign performance, platform growth, and ROI for executive stakeholders.
• Other responsibilities are performed as assigned or needed. 

Qualifications and Skills:

• Working in-office is an essential function of this position. This requirement of face-to-face interaction is in place to ensure effective supervision, collaboration, and teamwork.  In-office attendance is required for the following reasons:
  • For effective supervision of employees and our work product, which includes ensuring all employees have necessary oversight of their work and access to supervisory assistance, which includes meetings to review work product, deadlines, and status.
  • To foster communication and collaboration among team members, which includes the following: allowing for spontaneous brainstorming sessions and exchanges of ideas, quick access to team members to enable collaborative problem-solving, and stronger cohesion among co-workers and within teams.
  • To enhance the sharing of information necessary to effective job performance and product creation. 
  • To enhance understanding of our stakeholders’ work and business needs, facilitate a more seamless and organic workflow, and ultimately increase efficiency and successful outcomes.
• Typically has 7+ years of experience in an Influencer Relations or related role; experience in the entertainment, CPG or gaming  industry preferred.
• Strong project management and creative planning skills.
• Strong understanding of influencer platforms such as TikTok, Twitch, YouTube, and others, including a familiarity with the unique workings of each platform.
• Solid knowledge of the content creation and influencer landscape within the entertainment, CPG or gaming  industry.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, verbal, and reporting skills, with the ability to communicate effectively across teams and with external partners.
• Proficient with Photoshop, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and analytic measurement tools preferred.
• Creative, collaborative thinker who contributes to improving unique workflows and processes.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, small-team environment and collaborating with overseas teams, including flexible hours as needed.
• Excellent communication skills, both internally to a wide range of teams as well as externally to creators and the wider public.
• Good existing relationships with a wide range of influencers, from small to large, preferred, and the capacity to manage a growing database of contacts.
• Positive, professional, and solutions-oriented attitude.
• An understanding of social listening tools such as Level Up, Tubular and Synthesio, and the ability to suggest others where they might be necessary to better improve our insights.
• Familiarity with SEGA brands such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, Metaphor, and Crazy Taxi is preferred
• Experience working with a Japanese game publisher is a plus.