Senior Program Manager, Applied Science | Irvine, CA

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC.; Irvine (CA); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Paid holidays and vacation

Job summary

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in Irvine, CA is seeking a Senior Program Manager, Applied Science to coordinate evaluation, adoption, and development of internal tools and platforms used in game development and production.

You will partner with applied scientists, ML engineers, and business stakeholders to translate team needs into requirements and adoption strategies, driving prioritization and rollout. The role emphasizes operational rigor, technical fluency in applied science, and product

Qualifications

• 8+ years of program management experience in cross-functional technical initiatives.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, statistics, or related domain.
• Strong understanding of innovative technologies including LLM-based applications and automation.
• Ability to translate team needs into requirements and guide tool/platform development.
• Fluent collaboration with applied scientists and machine learning engineers.

Responsibilities

• Drive cross-functional planning for evaluation and development of internal platforms and external technologies.
• Partner with scientists, engineering, and stakeholders to translate needs into requirements and adoption plans.
• Guide direction and prioritization for internal tools by identifying high-value use cases and gaps.
• Manage stakeholder alignment, readiness, communications, and risk for rollout.
• Track outcomes and metrics to inform platform direction and scalable rollout.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional coordination

Technical fluency in applied science

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, math, statistics, or related domain

Tools

LLM-based applications

Context retrieval patterns

Automation and tooling

Job description

Team Name: Global Insights Job Title: Senior Program Manager, Applied Science | Irvine, CA Requisition ID: R027870

For more than three decades, Blizzard has embraced technological evolution - not for its own sake, but to better serve our values, empower our teams, and enhance the experiences we deliver. We continue to explore cutting edge technologies that support game development and production. Our central applied science and machine-learning teams drive the development of internal tools and platforms. We are looking for a Senior Program Manager to support evaluation, adoption, and ongoing development of innovative technologies, tools, and platforms that are used in connection with video game development and production. The role will partner with applied scientists, machine learning engineers, and stakeholders across the business to coordinate evaluations, manage execution, and guide the development of internal tools and platforms. The ideal candidate brings strong operational rigor, technical fluency in applied science, and product judgment in guiding technology adoption and the evolution of internal tools and platforms.

This role offers a flexible hybrid work week, with a mix of remote and on-site days. While hybrid is the standard arrangement, you're also welcome to work on-site full-time if you prefer. Our primary studio location is in Irvine, California.

Responsibilities

• Drive cross-functional planning and execution for the evaluation, adoption, and development of internal platforms and external technologies utilized in game development and production.
• Partner with applied scientists, engineering, and business stakeholders to translate team needs into clear requirements, evaluation plans, and adoption strategies.
• Help guide the direction and prioritization for internal tools and platforms by identifying high-value use cases, capability gaps, and opportunities.
• Manage stakeholder alignment, readiness, communications, and risk management to support successful rollout and adoption across teams.
• Track outcomes, user feedback, success metrics, and key dependencies to inform recommendations, platform direction, and guide scaled rollout.

Minimum Requirements

• 8+ years of program management experience supporting cross-functional technical initiatives, platforms, tools, and internal systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, statistics, or related domain
• Strong understanding of innovative technologies and tools, including LLM-based applications, context retrieval patterns, tool integrations, agentic systems, and automation
• Ability to identify team needs, translate them into requirements, and help guide the direction of internal tools and platforms
• Technical fluency to work effectively with applied scientists, machine learning engineers on requests, integrations, evaluation frameworks, and platform capabilities
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with cross-functional teams

Pluses

• Experience partnering closely with engineering, applied science, or machine learning teams to shape internal capabilities, prioritize improvements, and support iterative development of tools and platforms
• Experience supporting teams in game development or production environment
• Experience driving thoughtful evaluation and adoption of new technologies in large organizations
• Familiarity with assessing solutions across quality, cost, latency, safety, reliability, and usability
• Familiarity with evaluating machine learning platforms, multimodal tools, and automation solutions
• Master’s degree in engineering

Our World Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet! Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment.

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do!

We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply. We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [e-mail]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

• Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including: Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance
• Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company
• You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $115,140.00 - $213,024.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.

Blizzard Entertainment® is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software. After establishing the Blizzard Entertainment label in 1994, the company quickly became one of the most popular and well-respected makers of computer games. By focusing on creating well-designed, highly enjoyable entertainment experiences, Blizzard Entertainment has maintained an unparalleled reputation for quality since its inception.