Senior Outsource Manager

Senior Outsource Manager

Location: United States Remote 

Job Description: 

Summary:

The Senior Outsource Manager is accountable for the end-to-end management of external development partnerships for the studio. In this role, you will own and drive the external development pipeline, ensuring that our partners deliver assets and content on schedule, within scope, and at the highest quality standard. You will establish and evolve production practices that seamlessly integrate external partner contributions with our internal development teams. Through your leadership, you will manage dependencies, track progress across multiple content pipelines, and facilitate clear communication between internal stakeholders and external vendors. This role is crucial for ensuring our external content production remains efficient, predictable, and aligned with the creative vision of our projects.

Reporting to the Director of External Development and partnering closely with Art, Production, and other project leaders, you will be a key driver in scaling our content creation capabilities.

Responsibilities

Partner & Pipeline Management

• Own and manage relationships with external partners, serving as the primary point of contact through the entire lifecycle, including onboarding, offboarding, contracts, and invoices.

• Negotiate and align vendor scope, capacity, cost, and delivery expectations with project goals and budget.

• Establish and maintain a clear communication cadence with vendor Production/Project Managers and leadership, ensuring alignment and clarity.

• Handle all administrative aspects of partnerships in collaboration with 2k Legal, Finance, and IT.

Production Oversight & Execution

• Build and manage vendor production schedules across all content pipelines, ensuring clear milestones, staffing plans, and allocation of hours.

• Track deliverables, monitor milestone health, and proactively identify and flag risks related to schedule, budget, or scope drift.

• Drive the continuous improvement of vendor workflows, documentation, and toolchains to increase efficiency and quality.

• Report on vendor KPIs, cost efficiency, and delivery trends to studio and project leadership.

• Hold external partners accountable for meeting deadlines, quality standards, and budgetary requirements.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Coordinate closely with internal discipline leads, producers and OS Supervisors to define creative briefs, style guides, and asset libraries for external partners.

• Work with OS supervisors to ensure external work is consistently reviewed against studio standards and quality bars.

• Ensure the seamless integration of assets and content from external partners into the internal development pipeline.

• Serve as the key communication bridge, running the external cadence with vendor PMs and escalating critical issues internally.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor other producers and OS Supervisors on best practices for external development.

• Help evolve the studio’s production craft by proposing and testing new approaches, methodologies, or tooling for external management.

• Foster a collaborative and positive work environment, guiding teams through change and ambiguity with a calm and deliberate approach.

• Partner with other project OS Managers and Director of External Development on studio best practices and maintaining our external database used for studio level reporting

What We're Looking For

We're looking for a seasoned professional with a deep passion for video games and a proven track record of managing external development in a fast-paced environment. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker and an excellent communicator who can drive complex projects from concept to completion with minimal supervision.

• Experience & Expertise: A minimum of 6 years of experience in project management, production, or a related role within the video game industry, with a focus on managing external partners. A deep understanding of game development pipelines and a mastery of the end-to-end outsource lifecycle.

• Ownership & Autonomy: This professional thrives in a role with significant autonomy and can own and manage relationships with multiple external partners. Comfortable working with minimal supervision and can proactively identify and solve problems.

• Strategic & Proactive Mindset: This person doesn't just react to issues; they anticipate them. A knack for identifying potential risks, proposing effective solutions, and continuously improving vendor workflows and processes to boost efficiency and quality is essential.

• Exceptional Communication: Have an exceptional track record serving as the key communication bridge between internal teams and external vendors. The ability to build strong relationships, negotiate effectively, and convey complex information clearly to a wide range of stakeholders, from artists and producers to legal and finance teams, is critical.

• Leadership & Mentorship: Be a leader who can mentor junior team members and evolve the studio's production craft. Be adept at guiding teams through challenges and fostering a collaborative, positive work environment.

• Results-Driven: A focus on delivering results is paramount. The candidate must know how to track progress, monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), and hold partners accountable for meeting deadlines, quality standards, and budgetary requirements.

Please note that 2K Games and its studios never uses instant messaging apps or personal email accounts to contact prospective employees or conduct interviews and when emailing, only use 2K.com accounts.

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