Lead Franchise Strategist
Sony Interactive Entertainment
United States, San Mateo · USA-CA-Los Angeles-Jefferson · USD 155,800-233,600 · Hybrid · Posted Sep 30, 2026
At a glance
- Workplace
- Hybrid
- Location
- United States, San Mateo · USA-CA-Los Angeles-Jefferson
- Salary
- USD 155,800-233,600 · Base salary
About the role
- Sony Interactive Entertainment is looking for a Lead Franchise Strategist to help shape franchise work by growing audiences, deepening fandom, and creating more ways for people to engage with PlayStation franchises beyond the release of a game.
- The strategist will understand how entertainment franchises are built over time across audiences, stories, formats, products, experiences, and partners.
- Gaming experience is valuable but not required, with background in film, television, animation, publishing, consumer products, licensing, live experiences, or location-based entertainment potentially being just as relevant.
Responsibilities
- Lead franchise strategy work for assigned priority PlayStation IP, from initial opportunity assessment through long-term planning and cross-functional alignment.
- Develop franchise strategies that define audience opportunity, positioning, expansion potential, commercial rationale, and priorities for growth.
- Proactively identify new ways priority IP could grow, including opportunities that may sit outside PlayStation’s existing franchise playbook.
- Identify where each franchise has the strongest potential across film, television, animation, publishing, consumer products, music, live and location-based experiences, partnerships, and digital/community engagement.
- Help define what each franchise should become over time — and just as importantly, where it should not go.
- Use audience research, fandom insights, market trends, competitive benchmarks, and commercial data to make clear recommendations to leadership and cross-functional partners.
- Translate franchise ambition into practical roadmaps, sequencing, decision frameworks, and execution priorities.
- Support the development of franchise bibles, IP briefs, creative guardrails, and other tools that enable partners to build from a shared understanding of the IP.
- Partner with finance and business teams to understand and articulate the value of franchise activity across games and adjacent businesses.
- Champion the fan perspective — understanding what audiences love, where they want more, what will feel authentic, and where expansion could damage trust.
Requirements
- Strong experience in franchise strategy, IP development, entertainment strategy, brand expansion, audience growth, or a related field, with a track record of independently leading complex strategic work.
- A track record of helping build, shape, expand, or revitalize entertainment IP, ideally across multiple formats or business areas.
- Strong understanding of fandom — how audiences discover, engage with, spend around, advocate for, and stay connected to IP over time.
- Experience working across creative and commercial disciplines, including areas such as production, research, finance, marketing, licensing, consumer products, and external partnerships.
- Ability to synthesize complex creative, audience, and commercial information into clear recommendations, influence senior stakeholders, and build alignment around a direction.
- Strong creative taste and commercial judgment — someone who can see both the magic of an IP and the business around it.
- Experience with areas such as franchise architecture, audience segmentation, IP positioning, content roadmaps, commercial planning, or long-range portfolio strategy.
- Comfort operating in ambiguity and creating structure around IP that may not yet have a fully formed franchise ecosystem.
- Ability to challenge assumptions constructively and make thoughtful calls about what is worth doing, what should wait, and what should not happen at all.
- A practical, collaborative approach and the ability to influence across teams without always owning final execution.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with global entertainment brands or IP with multi-market potential is a plus
Benefits
- medical
- dental
- vision
- matching 401(k)
- paid time off
- wellness program
- employee discounts for Sony products
- bonus package
Workplace
- Base pay range may vary in line with the company's hybrid working policy.
Skills
- Franchise Strategy
- IP Development
- Entertainment Strategy
- Brand Expansion
- Audience Growth
- Audience Research
- Fandom Insights
- Franchise Architecture
- Audience Segmentation
- IP Positioning
- Content Roadmaps
- Commercial Planning
Show all 13 skills
- Portfolio Strategy
