Senior Program Manager (Brand Partnerships)

The Riot Commercial Partnerships (RCP) team is responsible for identifying, building, and executing world-class partnerships with leading global and regional brands. Our mission is to drive revenue through strategic commercial collaborations that bring meaningful value to Riot’s fans—across Games, Entertainment, Esports, and Social Impact. For every product and event Riot creates, our partners help elevate the experience for millions of players and audiences around the world.

We’re looking for a strategic, highly organized program manager to help scale how Riot develops, manages, and activates brand partnerships globally and regionally. Reporting to and in partnership with the Director, Partnership Management, this role will oversee the end-to-end operating process for regional brand partnership opportunities, working closely with Regional Riot Publishing & Partnerships Leads (RPPLs), Business Development (BD), and cross-functional stakeholders to move opportunities from identification and evaluation through deal development, execution, and reporting.

This role will serve as the central program leader connecting regional opportunities to Riot’s broader commercial strategy—creating clarity around priorities, establishing effective processes, driving accountability across teams, and providing leadership with visibility into the regional partnership pipeline and performance. In addition, this role will directly manage and activate select high-priority global brand partnerships and serve as the partnership lead for the Esports World Cup (EWC) relationship and other strategic co-marketing partnerships. Because priorities shift quickly in our fast-paced environment, this role includes—but isn’t limited to—the responsibilities below.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee the regional brand partnership operating process, working in close partnership with regional RPPLs and BD teams, acting as the program lead with this group of key stakeholders who will identify, evaluate, prioritize, develop, and execute local and regional brand partnership opportunities.
• Establish clear frameworks, workflows, milestones, and decision points that enable regional teams to pursue opportunities efficiently while maintaining alignment with Riot’s global partnership strategy and standards.
• Serve as the central program manager across regional partnership opportunities, coordinating stakeholders, identifying dependencies, resolving blockers, and ensuring opportunities progress from initial concept through contracting, activation, and measurement.
• Build and maintain a consolidated view of the regional brand partnership pipeline, providing regular reporting, insights, risks, and recommendations to RCP and senior leadership.
• Partner with BD and regional teams to evaluate opportunities against commercial potential, player value, strategic fit, operational complexity, and broader Riot priorities.
• Use scalable tools, processes, and best practices that improve coordination between global and regional commercial teams and enable Riot to pursue local partnership opportunities more effectively.
• Serve as the partnership lead for Riot’s relationship with the Esports World Cup (EWC), coordinating internal and external stakeholders and overseeing partnership planning, obligations, activation, governance, and executive reporting.
• Advocate for partner objectives and contractual deliverables within internal workstreams while ensuring partnership activations remain aligned with Riot’s products, players, and brand.
• Coordinate complex cross-functional initiatives involving Publishing, Esports, Games, Marketing, Legal, Finance, Business Development, regional teams, and external partners.
• Anticipate and resolve partnership and program risks, escalating issues appropriately and driving stakeholders toward clear decisions and successful outcomes.
• Oversee partnership measurement and recap reporting, translating performance data into actionable insights, optimization opportunities, and recommendations for leadership and partners.

Required Qualifications:

• 6-8 years of experience in program management with 3-4 years in Brand Partnership, Partnership Management, Business Development, Sponsorship, Account Management, Strategic Partnerships, Program Management, or an equivalent field.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional brand partnership programs across multiple teams, regions, or business units.
• Proven ability to project manage multiple high-value partnership opportunities simultaneously, establishing clear workstreams, owners, milestones, dependencies, and decision points.
• Experience managing senior-level relationships with external brands, agencies, rights holders, or strategic partners.
• Strong executive communication skills, with experience synthesizing complex programs and commercial pipelines into clear reporting, insights, risks, and recommendations for senior leadership.
• Strong understanding of the partnership lifecycle, including opportunity development, deal evaluation, contracting, activation, measurement, renewal, and expansion.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and demonstrated ability to influence and drive alignment across teams without direct authority.
• Strong analytical and strategic problem-solving skills with the ability to balance commercial objectives, partner needs, operational realities, and player value.
• Exceptional attention to detail, planning, organization, and follow-through.
• Ability to operate effectively amid ambiguity, changing priorities, and multiple simultaneous workstreams.
• Ability to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed to support major events and partner activations.
• Willingness to travel up to ~20-30% annually, domestically and internationally.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working within gaming, esports, sports, entertainment, media, technology, or other IP-driven partnership businesses.
• Experience working across global and regional commercial organizations, including familiarity with the complexities of developing locally relevant partnerships within a global framework.
• Experience designing and implementing partnership processes, governance models, pipeline management systems, or operating frameworks across distributed teams.
• Strong understanding of integrated marketing and the ability to connect partner objectives to compelling fan and player experiences.
• Experience working with senior executives and providing leadership-level commercial reporting and recommendations.
• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field; MBA or related advanced degree is a plus.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes your fellow Rioters, who are the customers of your work. Being a dedicated fan of games is not necessary for this position!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first . That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security. 

• (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $150,000.00 - $209,600.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.