Senior Manager, Brand Marketing in London

Who We Are At 2K, we build some of the most iconic and culture-shaping video games in entertainment. In 2023, we expanded our publishing arm across 2K Sports Lab, our latest stand-alone studio that is shaping an ambitious plan to redefine the future of sports games. We're currently building a world-class team to build the next iconic sports franchise that’s rooted in bold ideas, innovative experiences and a laser focus on players and fans.

What We Need We are looking for a Senior Manager, Brand to join our team. This is a critical role that will further develop the foundations of our next blockbuster sports IP, offering a rare opportunity to impact the future of the sports video game category. The role requires strategic leadership, deep cultural understanding, and a clear point-of-view on the sport in service of creating a unique position and voice within the market.

The ideal candidate will be an expert in shaping brand strategy from the ground up, possessing the ability to develop our core audience globally while executing industry-defining creative campaigns. You will lead cross-functional relationships across studio, publishing and geographic boundaries, and will champion the professional growth of your team.

What You Will Do

• Brand Strategy
• Franchise Strategy: Shape a comprehensive, long-term brand strategy - refining the franchise's core mission, vision, and positioning - to establish a definitive, authentic foothold in the market.
• Identity, TOV & Behaviours: Establish and champion a global brand identity framework, as well as defining the tone-of-voice and core brand behaviours to ensure a consistent, inspirational, and engaging experience across all player-facing touchpoints.
• Distinctiveness: Establish a clear, authoritative POV on the sport, positioning the franchise uniquely to carve out a distinct space within the always-evolving cultural narrative.
• Audience Definition
• Audience Ownership: Partner with the insights team to develop, validate and enrich an evergreen audience segmentation, taking the lead in ensuring all publishing and studio activities orientate around their needs and motivations.
• Internal Advocacy: Inspire and educate the broader organization around our core audience and any adjacent segments, bringing it to life and creating closeness for key functions throughout the business.
• Trend Monitoring: Actively monitor consumer, cultural, and competitor trends to ensure the franchise responds to market shifts at the speed of the audience.
• Market Prioritisation
• Priority Market Strategy: Partner with insights and commercial teams to develop and execute a priority market strategy, building, maintaining and circulating a deep understanding of the sport on a global scale.
• Local Market Execution: Oversee the implementation of brand and marketing activities that balance global scale with local nuance, responding dynamically to both global and hyperlocal insights.
• Product Integration: Ensure the product strategy reflects our priority markets, driving integration from deep cultural representation to operational localization to attract players in key territories.
• Campaign Development
• Campaign Leadership: Lead all brand-defining campaign development, collaborating with internal creative stakeholders and world class agency partners to deliver industry-defining output.
• Evaluation Frameworks: Define key brand & campaign performance indicators, enabling insights team to build and track success measurement framework.
• Agency Management: A proven track record of managing, briefing, and extracting world-class output from top-tier creative agencies.
• Brand Partnerships
• In-Game Integration: Collaborate with the studio and partnership teams to identify and shape authentic brand integrations within the game environment that actively elevate the player experience at both a global and hyperlocal level.
• Marketing Elevation: Shape innovative ways for top-tier brand partners to integrate directly into our marketing plans, supporting the delivery of our core franchise goals.
• Brand Partner Value: Actively participate in meetings with the partnerships team to identify priority partners, build pitch presentations and support ongoing negotiations, developing sophisticated integration frameworks that deliver clear value to all parties.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with a diverse group of internal and third-party stakeholders, leveraging broad perspectives and shared expertise to deliver consistent excellence in execution.
• Feedback & Alignment: Actively engage in and facilitate constructive feedback loops, placing a sharp emphasis on close collaboration with the studio and navigating geographical boundaries within publishing.
• Team Leadership
• Line Management: Oversee the direct line management of two individuals, seamlessly shifting between teaching, coaching, and mentoring in support of their continued growth.
• Talent Development: Proactively support the professional growth, skills acquisition, and career development of the broader marketing and commercial team where necessary.
• Brand Governance
• Brand Guidelines: Establish, distribute, and enforce global brand guidelines, ensuring all regional marketing teams, licensing partners, and external vendors represent our brand as intended.
• Budget Management: Oversee the overarching brand budget allocation, managing internal and third-party groups to ensure high-quality delivery, financial accountability, and strong ROI.

What Will Make You a Great Fit

• Brand Building Expertise: Proven experience in brand marketing, ideally working on brands that are influential in popular culture.
• Strategic Influence: Highly skilled in aligning diverse stakeholders and drive executive-level decision-making through clear, structured communication and collaboration.
• Global Experience: A truly global career journey, with a deep appreciation for regional differences, cultural nuances, and international market dynamics.
• Growth Mindset: A relentless drive for success, demonstrating a solution-oriented mindset that naturally uncovers opportunities where others see challenges.
• World-Class Communicator: Exceptional communication skills with an innate ability to inspire and engage diverse audiences, while remaining highly receptive to feedback.
• Agile & Adaptable: High operational agility, with the ability to react to both internal and external changes of context at rapid speed.
• Collaborative Team Player: An exceptional team player who thrives on leveraging collective expertise and working cross-functionally across geographic borders.
• Sports & Culture Obsession: A genuine obsession for the sport at both a global and hyperlocal level, with a passion for staying connected to the pulse of the culture.

Bonus Points

• Establishing New IP: Experience working within the pre-production phase of major unannounced entertainment or gaming IP.
• Studio Partnership: Experience collaborating with game developers and studio leadership to translate product features into high-impact cultural narratives.