Community Programme Manager| Xbox Games Studio| Rare

Job Description

Overview

Rare is an Xbox Game Studio creating the kind of games the world doesn’t have. Our values – explorers, evolving, together – are fundamental to the games we make and how we make them. Rare offers rewarding and fulfilling careers for exceptional people, supporting you to learn and grow. Our studio is a welcoming campus in the heart of the Midlands, where the majority of our team work in a flexible hybrid work pattern.

Responsibilities

Role Purpose:

Rare is looking for a Community Programme Manager, specialising in discursive channel management, reporting and programme management to join the in-house Community team. Do you love getting involved in game discussion? Are you keen to gather player feedback and watch it make a real difference to game development? Do you think you could be a connection between a major AAA Xbox/PC studio and it's community, and build out programmes that add valuable depth to that connection? If so, we may have a place for you!

Key Accountabilities:

• Work closely with the Senior Community Manager to manage both day-to-day priorities and overall discursive channel strategy.
• Being an active and approachable Rare presence in the official franchise discursive channels (owned and third-party forums, Discord, Reddit), working with different teams within the studio to ensure our audience is always kept informed, engaged and supported.
• Owning the management of our Insider Programmes, including the editorialising and surfacing of release notes, forum feedback threads and organisation of additional playtests as required.
• Owning the management of the Community Council, including the running and moderating of discussion spaces.
• Running the day-to-day Sea of Thieves Steam community engagement strategy, including ownership of News & Announcements and the Community Hub.
• Running the day-to-day Sea of Thieves PlayStation community engagement strategy, including ownership of Official News on the Game Hub.
• Listening to our community’s feedback on our in-game content and features, collating that feedback and packaging it back to the development teams in a clear and digestible format.
• Working with key stakeholders like User Research and Player Insights to deliver this feedback with context regarding in-game behaviours and actions.
• Working with the wider Community and Communications and Live Ops teams on seamlessly delivering retail releases, including release messaging and release note support when required.
• Managing and maintaining strong relationships with volunteer community moderators to keep our discursive spaces organised, welcoming and a great place for fans to discuss our products.
• Inviting feedback from the community through social channels and forum content, and co-ordinating with internal teams to ensure we’re soliciting feedback around the right focuses.
• Using listening tools to keep a finger on the pulse of the chatter and sentiment around our products, showing proactivity in identifying emerging issues and recognising channel/programme opportunities where they arise.
• Curate and collate user-generated content, sharing the most compelling player stories or assets with the wider team Community team for spotlighting.
• Taking all Community Programme learnings and knowledge to other game teams, and helping build programmes that engage, motivate and inspire our players.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience:

• An in-depth understanding of how the game development process works.
• Excellent written communication skills.
• Intimate familiarity with a range of discursive channels, including their moderation, analytical and platform management toolsets.
• Proven experience owning projects from incubation to execution.
• Experience with CMS publishing tools.
• Experience with video and image editing a plus.
• Basic HTML proficiency a plus.
  

Desirable Characteristics:

• Strong passion for games and gaming culture.
• Well-organised, and effective at working against a plan to deliver incremental results.
• Self-motivated and good at prioritising and managing personal workloads.
• Seeks new opportunities to continuously improve and optimise studio output.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.