Senior Localization Producer

Industry:

Company: SEGA OF AMERICA INC

Job Details

Job Location
Progress – Irvine, CA

Position Type
Full Time

Salary Range
$95,000.00 – $120,000.00 Salary

Description

Hybrid Work Model

SEGA. . . What do you think of when you hear that word? Do you think of the console with the iconic, harmonized voice fire ups or do you think of the countless gaming hits from Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, or the Persona series? . . .

When we think of SEGA, we think of its evolution as a pioneer in the video game market to one of the most prominent video game developers and publishers ever! Globally, SEGA has over 5,000 employees passionately working to bring the best gaming entertainment to players around the planet. We have one of, if not the richest, portfolio of original IPs something we are very proud of and excited about as the market continues to change.

New streaming technologies and shifts in the retail landscape are well poised for what will be the most disruptive and innovative time in our industry. Our IP strategy positions us well for this, and we are enthusiastic about the future!

There’s never been a more exciting time in the company’s history to join SEGA!
Job Summary:

SEGA of America is seeking a Senior Localization Producer to deliver top-class, Japan-developed products to Western markets. The Senior Producer should be an internationally minded professional who can coordinate between our Japan-based development teams, our Irvine-based Japanese-to-English linguist team, EU-based linguist teams, global QA services, and NA/EU Marketing teams to deliver world-renowned SEGA and Atlus products to market on time, on budget, and at target quality.

The Senior Localization Producer manages multiple product lines within the department, in addition to coordinating their own projects as required, to ensure the department is delivering on schedule, on budget, and at target quality. Senior Producers bring years of experience communicating with internal and external teams, including but not limited to Marketing, QA, Development, 1st party, and external vendors, to the benefit of their assigned projects. They are an authority in their field, helping set goals, vision, and direction for the department. They work closely with upper management and business planning to craft the company’s portfolio outlook, production processes, and product lineup.

A Senior Localization Producer will also be expected to be an exemplar of good production practices who can help educate junior production team members, either indirectly or as direct reports. Beyond their own projects, they will review and oversee the work of junior members within their managed lines.

The ideal candidate will have a combination of excellent production experience, people leadership, familiarity with Japanese business practices and language, and a strong history of delivering top-notch Localization in coordination with globally distributed teams.
Duties and Responsibilities:

• Gather and digest information about assigned projects to determine project scope and extent of work required to bring success.
• Act as the international product owner and inform stakeholders to understand the vision and nature of assigned projects.
• Build resourcing plans and schedules and submit to managers for approvals so that plans and schedules are in alignment with development teams.
• Take control with accountability towards the driving of game concepts through internal approval processes as the product owner.
• Break down projects into manageable subtasks and take action to fulfill tasks using resources and team members assigned to projects.
• Take ownership of project communications and coordination, building and distributing documentations, ensuring proper game text translations, and managing bug reports.
• Oversee the recording of voiceover sessions for localized titles.
• Coordinate with QA to ensure product quality, vet issues and provide direction in line with assigned projects.
• Provide guidance and proactively engage with marketing, sales and other operational units related to assigned projects.
• Keep the schedules accurate and up to date to inform stakeholders clearly and in a timely manner.
• Provide clarity to stakeholders on takeaways of assigned projects, describing what makes the assigned project fun, compelling, interesting, and unique.
• Build post-mortem and metareview reports for assigned projects to share with stakeholders.
• Play assigned projects and generate feedback and insight as needed.
• Ensure best practices and policy is kept and implemented into assigned projects.
• Work as a spokesperson with an outreach to fans and media to promote assigned projects at tradeshows, events, media tours, and though other form of venues.
• Work with external stakeholders and corporate branches to ensure assigned projects are handled properly and prepared for a successful release.
• Manage and moderate budget so that assigned projects are kept within approved budget and properly escalate issues before matters worsen.
• Oversee the work of and provide mentorship to APs and Producers, including goal setting, performance management and career development for direct reports as assigned.
• Lead and/or contribute to long-term and short-term Production team initiatives.
• Handle other duties that may occur outside of normal procedures with a flexible and open mind.

Qualifications

Qualifications and Skills:

• You have at least 10+ years of combined production, project management, and/or localization experience within the game industry.
• You can speak at least business-level English and business-level Japanese (additional languages welcome as well!). Experience living and working in Japan are huge advantages.
• You are highly organized, love bringing order to chaos, and keeping people in the loop.
• You love the art of localization and know how to do it right.
• You can throw together a production/localization schedule in a heartbeat.
• You are a wiz at commonly used localization tools and formats, such as Excel, Word, XML, MemoQ, XLOC, and other localization tools and platforms.
• You are accustomed to working across regions, time zones, and languages and are familiar with the associated challenges.
• You have a proven track record of delivering localization and production projects.
• Working in multilingual, multicultural environments is exciting for you, and you have a strong understanding of the language challenges facing the game industry.
• You have extensive experience working with localization vendors and teams, as well as direct voice dubbing experience.
• Games are love, games are life: Especially games from Japan. You have opinions about them, know what makes them good and what makes them bad.

Travel:

• Fly both domestically and internationally 3 or 4 times a year.
• Occasionally visit and conduct business in Japan, as required.
• Attend media and consumer events a few times a year.