Principal Product Manager, Esports Ecosystem Operations| Overwatch at Blizzard Entertainment

Job description

Team Name: Job Title: Principal Product Manager, Esports Ecosystem Operations| Overwatch | Irvine, CA Requisition ID: R028248 Job Description: Your Mission Blizzard Entertainment is seeking a Principal Product Manager to join the Overwatch Esports team in Irvine, CA. In this role, you will lead the integrated planning and delivery of global competitive programs, team-partner operations, live events, and the systems that connect the esports ecosystem. You will translate approved strategies into clear roadmaps, operating plans, budgets, milestones, and launch-readiness requirements. You will partner with professional teams, players, tournament operators, vendors, regional partners, and teams across Blizzard to deliver high-quality, consistent experiences for participants and partners. This is a senior individual contributor role with no formal people-management responsibility. This role offers a hybrid work week, with a mix of remote and on-site days, based out of our Irvine, CA studio. While hybrid is the standard arrangement, candidates may also choose to work on-site full-time, if preferred. Domestic and international travel are required to support competitions and live events. Responsibilities This role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities: Own the integrated operating plan and master calendar for Overwatch Esports, connecting competitive programs, live events, team-partner initiatives, broadcasts, regional programs, marketing moments, and in-game activations. Translate approved priorities into roadmaps, workback schedules, milestones, ownership models, dependencies, budgets, risk plans, and launch-readiness requirements. Lead the day-to-day operation of the Overwatch Esports team-partner program, including communications, benefits, obligations, deliverables, performance tracking, onboarding, offboarding, and feedback mechanisms. Lead execution of approved competition formats, qualification pathways, seasonal calendars, rules, policies, and international events in partnership with competition operations teams and tournament operators. Serve as the product and operations lead for designated live events, owning the team and player experience across travel, visas, accreditation, practice operations, hospitality, onsite communications, competition flow, and participant services. Define and track the scope, timelines, service expectations, acceptance criteria, and performance of tournament operators, production vendors, regional partners, and other external stakeholders. Maintain clear program documentation, including responsibility matrices, risk registers, decision logs, budget trackers, status reports, operating procedures, escalation paths, and contingency plans. Identify schedule, scope, budget, resource, partner, and delivery risks early; evaluate tradeoffs, recommend solutions, and escalate material issues with clear context and next steps. Own day-to-day budget tracking, forecasts, purchase-order and invoice status, variance reporting, and concise program-health reporting for assigned esports programs. Build alignment across Overwatch development, publishing, marketing, broadcast, live events, finance, legal, partnerships, communications, analytics, regional teams, and external operators while providing functional guidance to vendors, contractors, and junior contributors. Minimum Requirements 13 years of experience in product management, program management, esports, sports, gaming, live entertainment, league operations, partner management, or related field. Demonstrated experience independently leading complex, partner-facing programs with multiple concurrent workstreams, international scope, and significant cross-functional dependencies. Experience translating strategy and objectives into roadmaps, operating plans, schedules, milestones, budgets, risk plans, decision frameworks, and measurable deliverables. Experience working directly with professional teams, players, tournament operators, vendors, regional partners, or comparable external stakeholders. Strong knowledge of competitive operations, tournament structures, rules administration, scheduling, competitive integrity, participant services, and live-event delivery. Experience leading international events or programs involving travel, visas, accreditation, practice operations, production, hospitality, and on-site issue resolution. Strong financial and operational judgment, including experience with budgets, forecasts, vendor scopes, purchase orders, invoices, capacity planning, and resource tradeoffs. Excellent written, verbal, relationship-building, conflict-resolution, and senior-ready communication skills, with the ability to influence decisions and drive accountability without direct authority. Extra Points Experience working for a game publisher, esports organization, tournament operator, sports league, or live-event producer. Deep familiarity with Overwatch, its competitive ecosystem, and its global player communities. Experience operating team-partnership, incentive, revenue-sharing, or ecosystem-development programs. Experience working across Korea, Japan, China, Europe, North America, or the Middle East, including across multiple languages, cultures, and time zones. Professional fluency in Korean or Japanese, with Korean preferred. Your Platform Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Our World Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world s largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet! Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners. We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply. We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics. Rewards We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including: Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance; 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching; Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave; Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others; If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance. Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting benefitsforeveryworld.com . In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $107,350.00 - $198,630.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.

Requirements

Must-haves

Job Title: Principal Product Manager, Esports Ecosystem Operations| Overwatch | Irvine, CA
Requisition ID: R028248
Job Description: Your Mission
Domestic and international travel are required to support competitions and live events.
This role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:
Translate approved priorities into roadmaps, workback schedules, milestones, ownership models, dependencies, budgets, risk plans, and launch-readiness requirements.
Lead the day-to-day operation of the Overwatch Esports team-partner program, including communications, benefits, obligations, deliverables, performance tracking, onboarding, offboarding, and feedback mechanisms.
Lead execution of approved competition formats, qualification pathways, seasonal calendars, rules, policies, and international events in partnership with competition operations teams and tournament operators.
Define and track the scope, timelines, service expectations, acceptance criteria, and performance of tournament operators, production vendors, regional partners, and other external stakeholders.
Maintain clear program documentation, including responsibility matrices, risk registers, decision logs, budget trackers, status reports, operating procedures, escalation paths, and contingency plans.
Identify schedule, scope, budget, resource, partner, and delivery risks early; evaluate tradeoffs, recommend solutions, and escalate material issues with clear context and next steps.
Own day-to-day budget tracking, forecasts, purchase-order and invoice status, variance reporting, and concise program-health reporting for assigned esports programs.
13 years of experience in product management, program management, esports, sports, gaming, live entertainment, league operations, partner management, or related field.
Demonstrated experience independently leading complex, partner-facing programs with multiple concurrent workstreams, international scope, and significant cross-functional dependencies.
Experience translating strategy and objectives into roadmaps, operating plans, schedules, milestones, budgets, risk plans, decision frameworks, and measurable deliverables.
Experience working directly with professional teams, players, tournament operators, vendors, regional partners, or comparable external stakeholders.
Strong knowledge of competitive operations, tournament structures, rules administration, scheduling, competitive integrity, participant services, and live-event delivery.
Experience leading international events or programs involving travel, visas, accreditation, practice operations, production, hospitality, and on-site issue resolution.
Strong financial and operational judgment, including experience with budgets, forecasts, vendor scopes, purchase orders, invoices, capacity planning, and resource tradeoffs.
Excellent written, verbal, relationship-building, conflict-resolution, and senior-ready communication skills, with the ability to influence decisions and drive accountability without direct authority.
Extra Points
Experience working for a game publisher, esports organization, tournament operator, sports league, or live-event producer.
Deep familiarity with Overwatch, its competitive ecosystem, and its global player communities.

Nice-to-haves

Professional fluency in Korean or Japanese, with Korean preferred.

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Platform: workday
Effort: long

Benefits

Benefits detected in the listing.

Dental

Vision

401(K)

Parental Leave