Live Ops Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Hidden Variable is seeking a Product Manager to help launch and optimize the F2P economy, systems, and live operations for exciting upcoming titles in development. As Product Manager, you will be responsible for the retention, engagement, and monetization KPI performance of an unannounced F2P mobile game. This is a unique opportunity to leverage your experience and know-how to help shape the product direction of a brand new game from the ground up. Your analysis, insight, and decisions will help create in-game experiences that engage, surprise, and delight millions of players around the world.

This role is intended to be a hybrid position, combining in-office hours at our brand new headquarters in Pasadena, CA with work-from-home time, as well. This is intended as a full-time position in our Product Department, reporting to the Chief Creative Officer.

Responsibilities

What do we expect from you on a day to day basis? Here are the essential functions of the job:

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders and publishing partners to define and develop long-term product and marketing strategy for our F2P mobile titles, with initial focus on our upcoming unannounced title.
• Create and maintain product roadmaps that both align with business objectives and improve the user experience.
• Own the metrics stack for our products, developing and maintaining a deep understanding of our games, audience, and competitors, with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Ensure we hit our target retention, engagement, and monetization KPIs by designing, monitoring, and reporting on key product metrics, and making actionable recommendations informed by data.
• Identify monetization and other product growth opportunities, proposing and running experiments to validate hypotheses, inform feature prioritization, and optimize our games.
• Design and guide the implementation of economy-centric content for live operations, including offers, reward tables, player messaging, and feature presentation, adhering to publishing partner guidelines where applicable.
• Rapidly prototype and iterate on product features in collaboration with other members of the development team, using data and feedback to guide prioritization and improvements.
• Partner closely with Design, Engineering, and Art to shape economy and live-ops features, including offers, live ops events, and systems that affect player progression and monetization.
• Support the hiring process and onboarding for additional product team roles, including participating in interviews and helping establish initial team processes.

Requirements

The ideal candidate will reflect each of these key qualities:

• Completionist - You have actively developed, released, and/or successfully supported at least one F2P or GaaS title within a team environment.
• F2P Mobile Fanatic - In the fast changing world of F2P mobile games, you know the latest trends and tactics that can turn the mediocre into the meteoric. You play all of the latest, greatest F2P games on mobile, and know what makes them tick.
• Smooth Operator - When a game launches, the work has only just begun. You know how to maximize engagement with live ops and address the ongoing needs of players month after month.
• Data Driven - You demonstrate proficiency with analytics tools (such as Google Analytics or similar) and have proven experience leveraging data to improve revenue performance.
• Raconteur - You are a multidisciplinary communicator who can express your findings clearly and concisely, formulating compelling arguments for product roadmaps and strategy. You effectively convey your point to the dev team through spoken words, text, and the occasional Slack GIF.
• Infographically Inclined - You have a knack for sifting through complicated heaps of data and producing gorgeous, grokkable visualizations.
• Mad Scientist - You have an insatiable desire to launch new features and offers, test performance, and rapidly iterate to achieve optimal results.
• Bootstrapper - As a highly motivated individual, you are eager and able to excel in a fast-paced environment, either autonomously or collaboratively.

Bonus Features

Extras we hope to see in the most competitive candidates:

• Mobile Wrangler - This isn't your first rodeo. In addition to having F2P Design and/or Product Manager experience, you also have reps working on multiple mobile games.
• Agile Enthusiast - You have prior exposure with Agile development practices and are no stranger to backlogs and Scrum.
• Unity Veteran - You are familiar with the Unity platform and know your way around the editor and its subcomponents.
• Expert Experimenter - You have experience working alongside a live ops team, crafting experiments and tuning knobs in the interest of maximizing KPIs for a GaaS-type application, including designing, running, and analyzing A/B tests to validate your hypotheses.
• Cellsperson of the Year - You possess advanced spreadsheet skills and working knowledge of the technical aspects of mobile gaming platforms.
• Query Me This, Batman - You are comfortable working with SQL (or similar tools) and can pull and analyze your own data when needed.

Compensation

Below is the base salary range that HVS expects to pay applicants for this role in California. Salary offered will vary depending on experience, skill, and location.

$95,000 - $120,000

The Perks

There are a lot of great reasons to work at Hidden Variable! Some of the highlights include:

• Unlimited PTO Policy - We offer unlimited paid time off, on top of 10 company holidays and two weeklong studio-wide breaks. We focus on results rather than hours, and we trust you to take the time you need to find the right balance between work and your personal life.
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Plans - We offer a generous yearly stipend, and have several premium plans available from major health care providers. Already have medical coverage? Keep the stipend as an end of year bonus.
• Financial Protection - We offer a 401(k) retirement plan, short- and long-term disability, and a complimentary Life/AD&D policy. You’ll also have the opportunity to add supplemental coverages (including pet insurance) if you like.
• Family Support - We offer 4 months of paid parental leave, plus an additional 90 days of fully remote work for employees returning from parental leave (on top of our usual hybrid work schedule).
• Career Growth - Developing the skills and training to advance in one's career is a shared responsibility. To that end, we frequently compensate for travel to conferences, fund tuition through online or in- person learning, and even reimburse game expenses (mobile or otherwise) to allow our teammates to maximize their full potential.
• Frequent Celebrations - We work hard, but we like to let off steam, too. You’ll find us playing board games, video games, trivia, and even the occasional field trip to an escape room or other attraction around the city, all courtesy of Hidden Variable.

Equal Opportunities

Hidden Variable Studios is an equal opportunity employer and we encourage applications from candidates of any background who are eager to celebrate their unique perspective. We recruit, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, orientation, disability, age, military service, and other protected statuses. We believe diverse backgrounds and life experiences enable us to collectively build better and more inclusive games.

How to Apply?

Hopefully, by the time you’ve scrolled this far, you’ve realized that we value high quality products and people who are passionate about what they do for a living.

Ready to apply? Check out our website for additional details: https://www.hiddenvariable.com/careers/pm/.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

A little bit about us — we’re a small, experienced team of independent developers in Los Angeles (read the juicy details here: https://www.hiddenvariable.com/about/). Our hit titles — Bag It!, Tic Tactics, Threes!, Skullgirls Mobile, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, and Letter Trek — have all launched to critical acclaim and app store features. In fact, they've been downloaded more than 50 million times to date.

It’s an especially exciting time to join Hidden Variable, as we’re on the cusp of major, exciting updates to our titles and are exploring new, original content as well. Interested in building fun, varied, and innovative games from the ground up? You’ve come to the right place!
At Hidden Variable, we’re looking for wildly talented individuals eager to put their creativity, enthusiasm, and passion to work. It’s that passion that helps us turn the mundane into the incredible and the average into the extraordinary.

Come help us continue to make that dream a reality.