Diablo 4 Needs Business Performance Senior Director

A few days ago, Rod Fergusson (Diablo Franchise Development vice-president/executive producer) tweeted a job opening for a Business Performance Senior Director. A very interesting position for a game dubbed “Not Blizzard Soon™” at BlizzCon. (Thanks, Corey)

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Aron H (a fan) asked: “Hey rod first time ever seeing something like this from blizzard are there non director roles in that line of work? I wouldn’t be qualified for a director role yet but something lower on the pole in this field and franchise would be awesome.“

Fergusson replied: “Well this Director would be growing a team, so yes!“

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Reading through the job requirements we get to: “Build the capability to provide the right information, on time to support short- and long-term decision making for the direction of the Diablo franchise“

I found that requirement intriguing because it could have been written as “direction of Diablo 4.”

To me this telegraphs that this specific job position will be providing short-term and long-term monetization direction, engagement and retention plans for the entire Diablo umbrella: Diablo 4, Diablo 3, Diablo Immortal, Diablo II: Resurrection and other unannounced projects.

Remember what Nevalistis said a couple years ago: “we have multiple Diablo projects in the works.”

This employee will also have the task to hire other positions to build his team.

As usual, I asked Blizzplanet contributor MrMesli (mobile games executive producer at another company) what he thought about this Business Performance Senior Director position.

MrMesli: Diablo 4 is a game developed as a service to be supported over time — in terms of maximizing the profitability of the game: via features, monetization, DLC, etc.; also following engagement in the game. Overall, this job position makes sure the game is hooking players where it should to have a long life. Data driven decisions Al.

“Build the capability to provide the right information, on time to support short- and long-term decision making for the direction of the Diablo franchise“

The question is that if this is not your typical remaster, is there room to add features that weren’t necessarily existing in the old Diablo II?

Features like: Transmog, an Achievement tab (like StarCraft II), avatars, emojis, voicelines, emotes, and other things. That sort of thing.

Now here is the finisher… what if Diablo II: Resurrected got new content post-launch, and stuff that can be monetized via an in-game Store and DLCs?

I guess only time will tell what the Diablo team is holding close to their chest.

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Director/Senior Director, Business Performance – Diablo

Requisition ID:

R002408

Job Description:

Blizzard Entertainment is a community of 4,000 global employees who are passionate about not only gaming but entertainment and the technology that drives our player experience.

We are on a quest to find a legendary Director/Senior Director, Business Performance who is a master of their craft to support the Diablo franchise. The ideal candidate will partner with the design leadership to define and execute the Diablo IV business model and post-launch live service approach and support other franchise topics. Importantly, they will have a deep understanding of and empathy for our players because they are a player themselves.

The Director/Senior Director, Business Performance functions as a team lead, manages the end-to-end lifecycle of a game spanning multiple feature areas and collaborates with the game team on roadmap planning. 

Covid-19 Hiring Update: We have transitioned to a work-from-home model and we are continuing to interview and hire during this time.  This role is expected to begin as a remote position. We understand each person’s circumstances may be unique and will work with you to explore possible interim options.

Objectives

• Build the capability to provide the right information, on time to support short- and long-term decision making for the direction of the Diablo franchise
• Manage the post-launch business service for Diablo IV to drive acquisition, retention, and monetization while maintaining a healthy community
• Define, coordinate, and execute in and out of game activities and events (e.g., pricing and promotions); propose compelling features to improve engagement, retention, and monetization; and report out on performance
• Establish goals and KPIs to measure player base health and business performance.  Monitor and escalate potential issues and share performance data with development, publishing, and commercial leadership
• Identify discreet player segments and develop or propose initiatives to address them
• Create, maintain, and optimize ethical monetization models that maximize long-term franchise revenue
• Track player life cycle and acquisition funnel and execute initiatives to grow the player base
• Work with commercial, publishing and development teams to develop SKU and content strategies (in and out of game)
• Collaborate with production to ensure events and initiatives are executed successfully in game
• Increase the repeatability of our successes by sharing best practices and lessons learned with other game teams and bring the best of Blizzard to Diablo
   

Competencies

• Passion for the business of games, especially RPGs/ARPGs/MMOs
• Deep knowledge in the key performance metrics that drive game performance
• 8+ years of experience including product management, live ops performance, or monetization design
• Experienced manager with a history of guiding high performers to do their best work
• Data-driven decision maker with intellectual humility and a passion for testing
• A leader by influence who is excited to pitch in and help
• Collaborative problem solver, structured and organized thinker, excellent written and verbal communications
• Excellent interpersonal skills to manage complex projects with diverse stakeholders all over the world (disciplines, regions, etc.)
• Integrity, excellent judgment, and discretion

Apply to this job here.

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