Senior Director, External Development and Operations

Join us at Electronic Arts (EA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, where we inspire the world to play and connect millions of players through iconic franchises like FIFA, Madden NFL, The Sims, Battlefield, and Apex Legends. 

Central Development Partners (CDP) is a cross-functional group who provide world-class support for game teams inspiring the world to play. Our goal is to create high-quality content at scale in service of making EA the best place to make games. Whether it’s realizing games teams’ artistic vision through motion capture technology, creating accessible game experiences for players worldwide through localization services or ensuring that each game experience launches smoothly and with minimal interruption via QV testing, we partner directly with game teams at all stages of development.

As Senior Director, External Development and Operations, you will report to the Vice President, Development Operations and guide our global external development strategy, partner ecosystem, and operational delivery. You will lead a diverse, distributed team within the Central Development Partners group, helping us create great player experiences efficiently and sustainably across EA's portfolio.

Responsibilities:

You will develop and execute EA's global external development strategy, aligning with studio priorities and business goals to improve operational delivery for multiple franchises.

You will lead, mentor, and support a globally distributed team, promoting an inclusive and collaborative culture that empowers us to achieve our goals.

You will partner with studio leadership, Finance, Legal, Procurement, IT, and Studio Operations to forecast demand, allocate resources, and create plans that meet the needs of our game teams.

You will manage partner relationships by sourcing, negotiating, contracting, and maintaining clear reporting on vendor performance, capacity, and spend to inform strategic decisions.

Qualifications:

15+ years of experience in external development, outsourcing, or production leadership within gaming, entertainment, or technology.

8+ years leading global teams and managing senior team members in a matrixed organization.

Experience negotiating vendor contracts, managing partner relationships, and improving cost efficiencies at scale.

Experience managing external development budgets and using project management tools such as JIRA, Airtable, or PowerBI in AAA game development environments.