Director of Product

Job description

About Evo For more than 20 years, the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) has produced the largest and longest-running fighting game tournament conventions in the world. Our events are gathering points where players, fans, publishers, developers, creators, and brands come together to celebrate fighting games and the communities that love them. Beyond our flagship live events, Evo continues to expand how we create, celebrate, and grow fighting game fandom around the world. Role Overview We’re looking for a Director of Product, Evo to lead the vision, development, and continued evolution of Evo’s live event and consumer products. This person will define what we build, why we build it, and how Evo brings its tournaments, programming, and fan experiences to life around the world. You will own the end-to-end development of select Evo products, from tournament formats and on-site attractions to new events, specialty programming, and other major initiatives that will help shape Evo’s future. You will take products from initial concept through launch, defining the audience, goals, scope, requirements, budget, and measures of success. You will work closely with Event Operations, Production, Broadcast, Marketing, Partnerships, and Business Development to ensure each product can be delivered successfully and remains true to Evo’s community and brand. This is a senior leadership role within Evo. In addition to leading individual products, you will help shape Evo’s broader product portfolio, support decisions about global expansion and future growth, develop strong leaders and teams, and take on broader leadership responsibilities across the business when needed. The right person combines product strategy, live event experience, audience empathy, and strong business judgment. They understand how to translate fighting game culture and broader gaming fandom into competitive and entertainment products that can grow without losing what makes Evo special. At our size, this is a hands-on leadership role. You should be comfortable moving between long-term product planning, experience design, documentation, budget decisions, team leadership, cross-functional coordination, and on-site execution. Reporting Structure You will report to Evo’s General Manager. Key Responsibilities Evo Product Strategy Own the vision, priorities, plans, and measures of success for major Evo products, including live events, tournament experiences, on-site attractions, and specialty programming. Write clear product and event briefs that define experience goals, spatial concepts, stage requirements, tournament parameters, and what each team is expected to deliver. Make product tradeoffs across features, formats, and investments using audience data, player sentiment, endemic impact, business value, timing, complexity, and cost. Define ticket types, experience packages, benefits, and attendee value in partnership with Event Operations, Marketing, Finance, and other relevant teams. Work with the General Manager and company leadership to set product priorities and evaluate new formats, events, and markets. Event & Consumer Experience Development Lead the development of flagship event features and experiential zones, including museum exhibits, indie developer showcases, vendor villages, artist alleys, community meetups, and other on-site attractions. Define tournament formats, exhibition formats, rulesets, and competition structures in partnership with tournament and event teams. Lead the ideation and development of new events and specialty products, including exhibition programming and publisher partnered showcases, creating repeatable, scalable formats that can be adapted for Evo events in different markets. Consider the full attendee and viewer journey, including how an experience works on-site, on broadcast, and across Evo’s content channels. Publisher & Partner Experiences Partner with Partnerships, Marketing, and Business Development to design industry leading experiences for Evo’s partners that fit within Evo’s broader product and consumer plans, including activations, show features, developer panels, content presentations, commercial segments, circuit qualifier integrations, and official circuit finals. Define the structural guidelines for tournament activations, publisher-supported side events, and programming Ensure partner integrations add something meaningful to the player, attendee, or viewer experience and feel right for Evo. Join major publisher and partner conversations when product direction, tournament formats, or fan experiences are a central part of the opportunity. Product Management & Processes Create consistent ways of evaluating, prioritizing, planning, and documenting Evo products and experiences across our global events. Monitor attendance, participation, capacity, show pacing, fan feedback, and other relevant measures during live events to assess product performance and identify changes that should be made during the event or in the future. Lead post-event product reviews and turn community feedback, viewership data, surveys, and internal feedback into clear improvements for future events. On-Site Creative Stewardship & Execution Support Manage the creative integrity of the event on-site, ensuring all stage presentations, experiential feature builds, and brand moments match documented expectations and creative standards. Partner closely with Event Production to resolve issues that affect the player, attendee, broadcast, or partner experience. Support the selection and management of specialized experiential vendors, contractors, and other outside partners when needed. Provide hands-on product direction during events and work with Event Operations, Production, and Broadcast to make changes when circumstances shift. Participate on-site at major Evo events and other product launches as needed. Budget Management Develop and manage approved budgets for assigned products and programs, including prize pools, experiential builds, specialty programming, and early product development. Review product costs, audience engagement, and results to help decide where Evo should invest in the future. Evaluate the audience, cost, revenue potential, and operational needs of proposed products and experiences. Leadership & Team Development Serve as a senior member of Evo’s leadership team and help make decisions across Evo’s products, events, teams, and future plans. Build strong working relationships across Evo and RTS and help teams align around shared priorities. Lead, manage, and develop product team members as the function grows. Set clear roles, goals, and expectations for team members and outside partners supporting assigned products. Step in to lead major events, new products, and cross-functional projects when needed. Qualifications 10+ years of experience across product management, live event development, experience design, or creative leadership, or related roles. Experience taking complex live events, gaming, entertainment, or consumer products from initial concept through launch and continued improvement. Experience developing tournaments, attendee experiences, programming, activations, or other large-scale fan-facing products. Strong experience defining product goals, scope, requirements, budgets, and measures of success. Ability to turn broad creative ideas into clear and practical briefs that production and operations teams can execute. Experience working across Event Operations, Production, Broadcast, Marketing, Partnerships, Business Development, and other teams to deliver complex initiatives and resolve competing priorities. Experience managing budgets, evaluating product performance, and making decisions based on audience, operational, and business results. Experience leading teams and developing other leaders. Strong communication, judgment, organization, and prioritization skills, with the ability to move between long-term planning and hands-on event execution. Willingness to travel domestically and internationally for Evo events, planning meetings, and other major milestones. Bonus Points Background developing products or experiences across a global event portfolio. Familiarity with designing products for players, attendees, viewers, publishers, and commercial partners. Deep understanding of competitive gaming ecosystems, live event dynamics, and familiarity with the Fighting Game Community (FGC). Ability to create repeatable event formats that can be adapted for different markets. Established relationships with experiential agencies, creative vendors, production partners, or other specialized contractors. Previous leadership within a growing entertainment, events, gaming, or consumer business. Compensation The salary for this role is $140,000 to $200,000, based on experience and qualifications. Benefits Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance 401k plan available for employee contributions Flexible work schedule Generous PTO and company-observed holidays Remote-first culture RTS is an enthusiast culture company that builds at the intersection of gaming, creators, and brands. From global live events to bespoke branded content, we exist to create meaningful connections between fans and the worlds they love. Our team brings deep expertise across partnership sales and marketing, talent management, event production, media, community building, and IP development.