Director, Player Protection & Compliance

Skillz Inc.; Las Vegas (NV); On-site; USD 141,950 - 192,050; Full time

Job summary

Skillz Inc. is seeking a Director of Player Protection & Compliance to establish and lead our gaming compliance function from Las Vegas, NV.

The role focuses on regulatory and risk management as Skillz expands to new markets and scales with a growing user base. You will oversee promotional compliance, policy development, and cross-functional collaboration with Product, Marketing, and Legal to embed compliance into launches, while building a high-performing team and aligning with company growth

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of experience in compliance, regulatory affairs, or related legal/operations discipline, with direct exposure to promotions, consumer gaming, or consumer-facing regulatory compliance required.
• At least 5 years of people management experience, including hiring and developing team members at varying levels.
• Demonstrated experience establishing and operationalizing a compliance function, including policy development, process infrastructure, and cross-functional program rollout, at a startup or high-growth company.
• Proven ability to operate as both a strategic leader and a hands-on practitioner, setting long-term compliance direction while personally executing on foundational work in the near term.

Responsibilities

• Establish and operationalize a dedicated gaming compliance function, building the policies, processes, and infrastructure needed to support our business lines at scale.
• Lead end-to-end promotional compliance across all active and upcoming consumer-facing programs, including state registration and bonding, official rules development, eligibility enforcement, and prize fulfillment oversight.
• Own and maintain a company-wide compliance calendar, risk register, and incident escalation playbook, ensuring zero missed regulatory deadlines and full visibility into the company's compliance posture.
• Design and enforce a pre-launch compliance review gate for all new programs and product features with a compliance surface area, partnering cross-functionally with Product, Marketing, and Legal to embed compliance into the launch process.
• Monitor the regulatory landscape across relevant jurisdictions, proactively identify rule changes impacting our operations, and lead remediation efforts before effective dates.
• Regulatory Expertise: Deep knowledge of gaming regulation, promotions compliance, and/or skill-gaming regulations across U.S. jurisdictions, with the ability to translate legal complexity into operational practice.
• Builder Mindset: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, building structure where none exists, and making sound decisions without fully formed processes or precedent.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Able to drive compliance adoption across Product, Marketing, and Operations without direct authority, balancing rigor with business enablement.
• Risk Judgment: Strong ability to assess, prioritize, and communicate compliance risk to senior stakeholders, distinguishing between critical exposure and manageable risk.
• People Development: Track record of hiring, developing, and managing compliance professionals, with the ability to build a high-performing team from the ground up.

Job description

Director, Player Protection & Compliance

About the Company

If you want to build, develop, and see your impact, join Skillz and level up your Career!

Skillz, the first publicly-traded mobile eSports platform that hosts billions of casual mobile gaming tournaments for millions of players worldwide, is revolutionizing the gaming industry. By fostering social competition within games, the Skillz platform helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by enabling real-money activity in their games and providing operational support while connecting players through fair, enjoyable, and meaningful competition.

At Skillz, we understand the thrill of achievement and the satisfaction of overcoming challenges. Want to join a team made up of alums from Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Twitter (X), Roblox, Zynga, Samsung, Lyft, EA , Riot, Nexon, Gameskraft, PlayStation, Unity, Scopely, Tinder, Intel, Deloitte, EY , Twitch, DraftKings, Wynn Resorts and more? Learn more to see if Skillz is the right fit for your next career move!

Why Skillz

Culture of Impact: Join a united team of builders, creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs driven by the desire to win. At Skillz, we create value, obsess over our product, and make a difference in the world.

Comprehensive Benefits: Enjoy peace of mind with our comprehensive benefits package, which includes 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision expenses for both you and your dependents. Additionally, take advantage of our 401K matching, equity incentives, pre-tax benefit options, and more.

Wellness Support: Enhance your well-being with our array of wellness initiatives, including meditation and mental health resources, physical fitness coaching and classes, family planning assistance, health and parenting guidance, virtual therapy sessions, and more.

Time off: We offer competitive paid time off (PTO) & company holidays to help you recharge and pursue your passions.

Las Vegas Headquarters: Skillz strongly believes in a five-day a week, collaborative office environment at our 36,000+ square foot headquarters. Enjoy free breakfast and catered lunches, snacks, a full-size gym with showers, commuter benefits, insurance, team bonding events and many more.

Recognized Success: Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, CNBC 's Disruptor 50, San Francisco Business Times' Best Places to Work, Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000 list, and many more.

Development Opportunities: We hold our employees to high standards while providing them with professional growth opportunities. We operate like a startup, and encourage all of our employees to collaborate and voice feedback about our product and ways we can improve as a business. We believe in never settling, and that also pertains to your growth.

About the Role

As Skillz scales its operations and the business becomes increasingly complex, we are looking for a dedicated Compliance leader to ensure the business meets all applicable regulatory, legal, and risk management requirements. In this role, you will establish and oversee compliance frameworks, manage relationships with regulators, and mitigate legal and financial exposure as we enter new markets and grow our user base. This function is critical to supporting Skillz's continued growth and ensuring we operate with the highest standards of integrity as we expand.

Responsibilities

• Establish and operationalize a dedicated gaming compliance function, building the policies, processes, and infrastructure needed to support our business lines at scale.
• Lead end-to-end promotional compliance across all active and upcoming consumer-facing programs, including state registration and bonding, official rules development, eligibility enforcement, and prize fulfillment oversight.
• Own and maintain a company-wide compliance calendar, risk register, and incident escalation playbook, ensuring zero missed regulatory deadlines and full visibility into the company's compliance posture.
• Design and enforce a pre-launch compliance review gate for all new programs and product features with a compliance surface area, partnering cross-functionally with Product, Marketing, and Legal to embed compliance into the launch process.
• Monitor the regulatory landscape across relevant jurisdictions, proactively identify rule changes impacting our operations, and lead remediation efforts before effective dates.
• Regulatory Expertise: Deep knowledge of gaming regulation, promotions compliance, and/or skill-gaming regulations across U.S. jurisdictions, with the ability to translate legal complexity into operational practice.
• Builder Mindset: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, building structure where none exists, and making sound decisions without fully formed processes or precedent.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Able to drive compliance adoption across Product, Marketing, and Operations without direct authority, balancing rigor with business enablement.
• Risk Judgment: Strong ability to assess, prioritize, and communicate compliance risk to senior stakeholders, distinguishing between critical exposure and manageable risk.
• People Development: Track record of hiring, developing, and managing compliance professionals, with the ability to build a high-performing team from the ground up.

Experience

• At least 10 years of experience in compliance, regulatory affairs, or a related legal/operations discipline, with direct exposure to promotions, consumer gaming, or consumer-facing regulatory compliance required.
• At least 5 years of people management experience, including hiring and developing team members at varying levels.
• Demonstrated experience establishing and operationalizing a compliance function, including policy development, process infrastructure, and cross-functional program rollout, at a startup or high-growth company.
• Proven ability to operate as both a strategic leader and a hands-on practitioner, setting long-term compliance direction while personally executing on foundational work in the near term.

Total Starting Compensation including Base + Bonus: $167,000

Location: onsite, Las Vegas, NV

Travel Requirement: Less than 10%

Join Skillz and Let's Redefine the Boundaries of Gaming!

Together, we'll create a world where skill, passion, and innovation thrive. We look forward to having you on board!

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Skillz embraces diversity and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As part of our commitment to diversifying our workforce, we do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, gender, gender identity, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, veteran status, or disability status, and we operate in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.