Senior Operational Readiness Manager

The gaming studio behind Football Manager, founded in 1994, Sports Interactive became a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA Europe in 2006. Based at the Here East technology hub in Stratford, East London, the SI team continues to expand as we bring our titles to an ever-growing audience across an increasing variety of platforms.

Position Overview: As Sports Interactive has grown, so has the complexity of how we build and ship our games. This role is responsible for establishing a clear, trusted view of development reality across the studio, where we are, where we’re heading, and how confident we should be in our delivery across Football Manager on all platforms. This role owns the data, tooling, and insight required to answer the question as to whether we are ready to ship but won’t make final delivery decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Building the single source of truth: Own JIRA at a studio level, working with Production, Development and QA to understand current issues and build a new JIRA database, ensuring workflows, fields, and dashboards addressing departmental feedback.
• Operational Planning & Forecasting: Turn historical data into credible planning inputs, including velocity trends, bugfix rates, and capacity modelling.
• Early Risk & Stability Signals: Identify and track early warning indicators such as bug convergence trends, stability and any workload pressures on individuals.
• Decision Support & Transparency: Provide leadership with clear, evidence-based views of delivery health and operational readiness.
• Partnership & Enablement: Complement Production, QA, and leadership, acting as a support unit and strengthening the studio’s ability to plan, track, and deliver effectively.
• Submissions: This role will have line management responsibility for the Submissions Manager, ensuring certifications, age ratings and platform submissions are fully integrated into the studio’s broader operational readiness view.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience:

• Experience in a similar role within the Games Industry or large software delivery environment.
• Deep experience with JIRA, including workflow design, dashboards, and data integrity.
• Developer mindset with a vision or track record of being able to pull in different data sources, interpret the data and turn it into clear, actionable insight.
• Comfortable working with senior stakeholders and challenging assumptions constructively.
• Highly organised, pragmatic, and focused on outcomes.

Benefits of Working at Sports Interactive:

• Private Healthcare and Dental Plans.
• A range of Gym Membership options through our Benefits partners.
• Travel Insurance for yourself and your family.
• Subsidised mental health, therapy, and coaching sessions.
• Access to on-site physical and massage therapist services.
• Free access to games released under the SEGA Europe umbrella.
• Contributory Pension Scheme (up to 7% of annual salary).
• Regular events in collaboration with our partnered football clubs.
• Free onsite evening bar in the Sports Interactive London HQ.
• A well-stocked breakfast bar with cereals, fruits, teas, and coffees.
• Multiple clubs and societies to join e.g., book club and art workshops.
• A personalised football shirt upon passing probation.
• Trophies & gift cards for length of service milestones.
• Cupcakes sent to you on your birthday.

What is it like to work here? We approach everything with passion, whether that is making our mark on the gaming and football industries or doing our bit for the world around us. For us, talent wins games, but teamwork wins titles. Collaboration is the key to constantly topping our best. We believe everyone matters, no matter which part of the business you are in, so we encourage and support our people in driving your own growth and realising your full potential.

Our Values:

• Keep collaborating: Teamwork wins titles.
• Be flexible: We think fast and adapt faster.
• Stay Tenacious: We don’t overlook the details.
• Show Ambition: Let your drive lead the way.
• Bring the Passion: Have fun doing your thing.
• Consider the Bigger Picture: Keep things in perspective.