Principal Publishing Strategist

KRAFTON Americas; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 137,000 - 188,000; Full time

Job summary

KRAFTON Americas, the regional publishing arm for PUBG and Subnautica franchises, seeks a Principal Publishing Strategist to shape market opportunities in North America and align with global leadership.

You will develop market assessments, investment proposals, and business cases, and lend publishing expertise across announced and unannounced titles. This 6-month W2 contract offers high accountability and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in game publishing, publishing strategy, or brand marketing.
• Experience leading publishing or marketing strategy for AAA live-service titles.
• Experience working across multiple regional markets and with HQ.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of market opportunity assessments, investment proposals, and business cases for North America.
• Synthesize market, competitive, and user data into strategic arguments and scenarios.
• Pressure-test strategic recommendations with global leadership and advise on positioning.
• Support alignment with PMO, HQ stakeholders, and partner organizations across cadences.
• Provide regional publishing expertise to GPD partners on announced and unannounced titles.
• Support go-to-market planning, launch beats, and live-service publishing decisions.
• Contribute regional market and competitive intelligence for title-level decisions.
• Contribute to ongoing market research and documentation rhythm.

Skills

Publishing strategy

Executive communication

Market analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Data fluency MAU/DAU

Business storytelling

Stakeholder alignment

Job description

KRAFTON is dedicated to identifying and publishing games worldwide that offer a uniquely enjoyable experience, crafted by our globally recognized production studios known for their distinctive creativity. We continuously push the boundaries of gaming enjoyment by embracing new challenges and technologies and expanding our platforms and services to captivate an even larger fan base. Best known for the genre-defining worldwide sensation PUBG: Battlegrounds, our stellar studios based across the globe include PUBG Studios, Striking Distance Studios, Unknown Worlds, Bluehole Studio, RisingWings and more. In collaboration with our passionate and driven team, we strive to establish ourselves as a renowned creator of masterpieces in the global gaming market.

THE OPPORTUNITY

KRAFTON Americas operates as the regional publishing arm of a Seoul-headquartered global studio, supporting a portfolio that includes the PUBG and Subnautica franchises. You will join a close-knit, high-accountability publishing team that works across multiple titles simultaneously, partnering closely with a cross-functional team of publishing craft experts. Our GPD counterparts own global strategy; our team's value lies in bringing deep regional expertise, agile execution, and a clear player perspective to the table.

As Principal Publishing Strategist, you'll own the strategic layer of that work: developing market opportunity assessments, investment proposals, and business cases that carry the team's regional perspective to global executive leadership, and shaping how KRAFTON invests next in the Americas. You'll also lend your publishing skillset across the team's active workstreams, spanning both announced and unannounced titles. Your deliverables are consumed at the highest level of the company, which means the bar is decision-ready, every time.

This is a 6 month W2 contract.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead development of market opportunity assessments, investment proposals, and business cases for the North America market, from thesis through decision-ready executive presentation
• Synthesize market, competitive, and user data (Sensor Tower, Newzoo, first-party sources) into clear strategic arguments, including business model scenarios for proposed products
• Pressure-test strategic recommendations against how global publishing leadership evaluates opportunity, risk, and portfolio fit, and advise team leadership on positioning and executive communication
• Support alignment with PMO, HQ stakeholders, and partner organizations across strategic workstream cadences
• Provide regional publishing expertise to GPD partners across announced and unannounced titles, bringing an NA market and player perspective to global plans
• Support go-to-market planning, launch beats, and live-service publishing decisions for titles in the team's remit
• Contribute regional market and competitive intelligence to inform GPD partner requests and title-level publishing decisions
• Contribute to the team's ongoing market research and documentation rhythm

QUALIFICATIONS

• 12+ years of experience in game publishing, publishing strategy, or brand marketing within the games industry
• Experience leading publishing or marketing strategy for a AAA live-service title
• Track record of building and delivering strategic recommendations to executive leadership
• Experience operating across multiple regional markets and coordinating with a global or headquarters organization
• Fluency working with market, revenue, and user data (MAU/DAU, revenue, acquisition metrics) to support strategic arguments
• English business communication skills, written and verbal
• Strong interest in and knowledge of the games industry across genres and platforms
• No impediment to occasional international travel

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Demonstrated ability to bridge cultural, communication, and decision making differences between an Asia based headquarters and a U.S. regional organization.
• Bilingual Korean and English proficiency
• Category depth in shooters or live-service PC and console titles
• Experience coordinating game marketing with entertainment or transmedia initiatives (film, series, esports)
• Experience in both regional and headquarters-level publishing roles
• Experience presenting to or preparing materials for C-level and board-level audiences

Reasonable Accommodation

KRAFTON Americas is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, the Company will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to apply for an open position, perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact the HR Talent team at KRAFTON Americas, to begin the interactive process.

EEOC statement

KRAFTON Americas provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type.

In California, the expected salary range for this position is $137,000-$188,000. The listed expected salary range represents a good faith estimate and the actual pay may depend on a variety of job-related factors that can include experience, education, skills, and location.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply at jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Krafton we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right candidate for this or other roles.