Senior Director, Merchandising & Editorial

Role overview:

The Senior Director will be responsible for showcasing the incredible range of gameplay experiences on PlayStation to over 100 million loyal gamers. They will have a deep love and passion for gaming and take huge pride in developing compelling and impactful editorial and merchandising experiences, that are highly player-centric and contribute to the broader Store growth strategy. They will be accountable for ensuring that the global Storefronts are merchandised in a relevant and engaging way, helping every player to discover the perfect next game for them, driving improved engagement, conversion and incremental revenues.

They will be directly responsible for leading the teams delivering merchandising planning, merchandising, personalisation, store editorial and conversion rate optimisation activities. They will ensure that game launches, campaigns, promotions, collections and experiences are delivered in a way that achieves Store commercial priorities.

They will develop a cohesive omni-channel Store merchandising strategy, finding opportunities to enhance console, app and web storefronts. They will contribute to Store trading activities, ensuring that teams are providing relevant inputs and commentary on an ongoing basis.

Responsible for developing a cogent Store editorial strategy, they will deliver compelling editorial experiences. They will develop a deep understanding of the Player experience and potential growth opportunities and will create engaging editorial experiences at all stages of the Player journey - further working with teams across the SIE business to integrate touchpoints.

What you'll be doing:

• Responsible for working with internal teams to develop the Store Merchandising & Editorial strategy, objectives and tactics.
• Further responsible for translating the vision and strategy into OKR frameworks, building well defined programmes to positively impact objectives.
• Accountability for overseeing, developing and optimising Merchandising & Editorial performance on an ongoing basis and further ensuring that activities support achievement of Store commercial targets.
• Accountable for leading and inspiring teams, fostering a collaborative and hybrid working culture that encourages and supports high performance, data led decision making and creativity.
• Responsible for ensuring the highest standards in hiring, training and development, retention, and employee satisfaction. Will act as a team mentor and coach to support exceptional performance delivery.
• Responsibility for ongoing optimisation of merchandising and personalisation activities, ensuring that commercial targets are achieved through engagement and conversion growth.
• Further ensuring that activity supports development of the Player focused strategy. Responsible for supporting activity and campaigns to deliver incremental player revenue and lifetime value, through improved player engagement and conversion.
• Development of insight and inputs into Store trading activities.
• Responsible for forging strong partnerships with direct and matrix teams to ensure impactful strategy & execution.
• Working with teams to develop data driven testing and decision making.
• Responsible for improving the efficiency of teams through improved processes and automation.

What we're looking for:

• 18+ years' experience of working in digital focused environments with considerable experience of running direct to consumer merchandising and editorial strategy and experiences.
• Must have a deep love and passion for games and understand the psychological drivers behind game engagement from achievement to community to escapism.
• Experience in delivering profitable growth through digital experiences and operating across multiple disciplines to drive performance.
• Experience of managing multiple partner groups in a global environment. Able to successfully work at all levels and within a matrix environment.
• Experience in developing detailed and impactful merchandising and editorial strategies, to drive customer engagement and conversion.
• Experience of developing deep understanding of customer trends and behaviours and building personalised, targeted digital programmes to drive growth.
• Able to use analytics to drive performance and merchandising and editorial plans.
• Demonstrates high commercial instinct and passion for the games industry.
• Experience of delivering in a high energy/ fast paced /changing environment.