Managing Director, XO Creative Studio

Description & Requirements Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

The Opportunity

XO Creative Studio sits at the center of the Experiences (XO) org, bringing creative excellence, production discipline, and cultural relevance to how we show up across the player journey. The organization has a critical need for a senior operations leader to translate leadership priorities into clear plans, action, and measurable progress, strengthening how we operate, allocate resources, and partner across XO Creative Studio and XO centers of excellence. This role is a high-impact operating partner to the SVP XO Creative Studio, designed to increase clarity, momentum, and operational excellence across a multi-disciplinary creative organization.

The Role

The Managing Director is accountable for the operating system of XO Creative Studio: how the team plans, tracks, decides, spends, prioritizes, and delivers, internally and in partnership with Experiences Centers of Excellence (COE) and Partners (e.g., Finance, People/HR, Business Ops, Comms, Enterprise Enablement partners).

This leader ensures the Creative Studio has the right governance, operating rhythm, and budget management to deliver against priorities, while removing friction and enabling creative leaders to focus on craft and outcomes.

What You’ll Do

• Run the Creative Studio Operating Agenda (SVP Operating Partner)
• Lead the strategic execution of the SVP XO Creative Studio’s vision: translate priorities into operating plans, milestones, and clear ownership.
• Create/own the operating rhythm: leadership team meetings, business reviews, quarterly planning, off-sites, and action tracking, ensuring decisions turn into follow-through and results.
• Drive cross-functional alignment across Creative, Creative Production, Events, and Music, surfacing dependencies, clearing blockers, and maintaining pace.
• Organization Management, Clarity, and Team Enablement
• Partner with SVP and People/HR to strengthen organizational design, role clarity, and operating norms that scale with the team.
• Establish consistent leadership mechanisms (goal setting, performance rhythms, talent review inputs, engagement signals) that support a high-performing creative organization.
• Build a culture of accountability, transparency, and collaboration, without constraining creative autonomy.
• Planning, Budget Management, and Resourcing (Creative Studio)
• Own the Creative Studio annual planning and budget management process (OpEx and applicable program budgets), including spend tracking, re-forecasting, trade-off recommendations, and investment alignment.
• Stand up clear governance for headcount planning, vendor/agency usage, and resourcing decisions in partnership with Finance and Talent, ensuring plans match priorities.
• Provide the SVP and leadership team with decision-ready visibility into financial health, constraints, and options, helping the organization operate with discipline and agility.
• Optimization and COE Connectivity Across Experiences (XO)
• Act as the primary connector between Creative Studio and Experiences COE's, standardizing how work moves through intersections (intake, prioritization, approvals, measurement).
• Identify operational friction and drive continuous improvement through better tools, processes, and shared ways of working.
• Where helpful, implement dashboards/scorecards and lightweight systems that increase speed, confidence, and decision quality (borrowing from effectiveness / systems-thinking models).
• Portfolio Execution and Program Leadership
• Lead complex, cross-team initiatives (e.g., new operating models, capability pilots, workflow transformations, organizational scaling efforts) from ambiguity to execution.
• Create strong project/program management practices: timelines, RAID logs, dependency management, and executive communications, so priorities don’t stall.
• Communications, Executive Materials, and Readouts
• Own leadership-level preparation for reviews, milestones, and executive touch points, ensuring narratives are clear, aligned, and supported by data.
• Create consistent progress reporting on priorities, risks, and outcomes, so leaders can make fast, high-quality decisions.

Who You Are

• A senior operations leader who can turn strategy into execution. You bring structure, clarity, and momentum to complex, creative, matrixed environments.
• Trusted partner to executive leaders; you’re comfortable in “gray space” and can build alignment without formal authority.
• Strong financial and planning fluency: budgets, resourcing, prioritization, and trade-offs.
• Experienced operating across multiple functions and COEs; you know how to build governance that enables (not slows) teams.
• Change leader with a builder mindset, able to design systems and then embed them into real operating behavior.

Qualifications

• Ideally 12–15+ years in business operations, operational leadership, program leadership, creative operations, or related roles in media/entertainment/tech/gaming (or similarly complex orgs).
• 5+ years leading teams (directly and/or through influence), including developing senior talent.
• Demonstrated success building and running operating rhythms, planning cycles, and cross-functional governance at scale.
• Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills; experience supporting senior leadership teams.
• Tool fluency: planning and project/program management tools, GSuite/MSFT, dashboards/analytics literacy.

Pay Transparency - North America Compensation And Benefits The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs).

PAY RANGES

• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. San Francisco) *$210,600 - $320,000 USD

Pay is just one part of the overall compensation at EA.

In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Electronic Arts We’re proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. From leadership that brings out your potential, to creating space for learning and experimenting, we empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth.

We adopt a holistic approach to our benefits programs, emphasizing physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life. Our packages are tailored to meet local needs and may include healthcare coverage, mental well-being support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leaves, complimentary games, and more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.