Director, Resource Planning

Director, Resource Planning

Reports to: Vice President, Head of Operations

Position Summary

The Director of Resource Planning will establish and lead a new resource planning capability for the Studio Business Group (SBG).

This role will create greater visibility into development capacity, staffing demand, workforce deployment, vendor utilization and resource-related costs across the portfolio. The Director, Resource Planning will connect resource plans, actual deployment and future demand so senior leadership and studio teams can make more informed decisions about investments, staffing, outsourcing and internal resource sharing.

Working across studios, Production, Finance, HR, Development Strategy and other operational partners, this leader will develop a more consistent approach to resource planning while respecting the operating needs, creative context and decision-making authority of individual studios.

The Director will be responsible for developing planning processes, forecasting capabilities, analytics and executive insights that improve resource-related decision making across SBG. This role requires a leader who can establish a new organizational capability while remaining hands-on in the organization's most complex planning work.

Key Responsibilities

Resource Planning

• Design and establish a resource planning capability across the Studio Business Group.
• Create an integrated view of current capacity, future demand, resource commitments and material capability gaps.
• Develop consistent planning principles, definitions, processes and reporting across studios and functions.
• Connect resource planning with portfolio planning, financial planning, production planning and workforce planning.
• Establish an approach that provides leadership with greater visibility while recognizing the distinct needs of individual studios and development teams.
• Improve the quality and consistency of information used to make resource, staffing and investment decisions.

Capacity and Demand Planning

• Partner with studios and functional leaders to understand current and future resource demand.
• Develop forward-looking views of workforce ramps, reductions, critical milestones and capability needs.
• Compare planned resource demand with actual staffing, internal availability and external capacity.
• Identify risks related to capacity, timing, critical skills or resource concentration.
• Recommend options to address gaps, including internal redeployment, shared capabilities, external partnerships, hiring or changes in sequencing.
• Improve the organization's ability to anticipate resource constraints before they affect delivery.

Internal Resource Sharing

• Identify opportunities to share talent, expertise and development capacity across studios and projects.
• Develop principles and processes for evaluating and facilitating internal resource-sharing opportunities.
• Partner with studio and production leadership to understand where internal co-development may provide strategic or operational value.
• Surface the benefits, trade-offs and constraints associated with moving or sharing resources.
• Help establish the transparency and trust needed for internal capacity to be considered before additional external spend is committed.
• Support leadership in balancing portfolio needs with studio-specific delivery commitments.

Outsourcing and Vendor Planning

• Build visibility into current and forecasted outsourcing and vendor demand.
• Partner with relevant teams to assess vendor utilization, capabilities, performance and cost.
• Support the development of consistent rate standards, planning assumptions and decision criteria.
• Identify opportunities to consolidate demand, improve purchasing leverage or reduce unnecessary variation.
• Help leadership evaluate when work should be performed internally, shared across studios or placed with an external partner.
• Provide resource planning input into broader co-development, sourcing and commercial decisions while respecting established deal and relationship ownership.

Resource Analytics and Decision Support

• Develop executive reporting related to:
  • Workforce capacity
  • Planned and actual resource levels
  • Development ramps
  • Critical capability gaps
  • Contractor and vendor utilization
  • Outsourcing demand and cost
  • Internal resource-sharing opportunities
  • Forecast accuracy
• Translate resource data into clear business insights, risks and recommended actions.
• Partner with Finance, HR and Production to improve data consistency and confidence.
• Establish practical measures that help leaders understand capacity and efficiency without encouraging simplistic or counterproductive utilization targets.
• Provide analysis of resource implications for portfolio, investment, restructuring and operating-model decisions.
• Ensure resource discussions are grounded in both business data and the realities of game development.

Resource Planning Team Leadership

• Build, lead and develop a high-performing Resource Planning team.
• Establish the team's vision, priorities and operating model.
• Coach team members in resource planning, business analysis, strategic thinking and stakeholder management.
• Delegate work effectively while remaining actively involved in the organization's most complex planning and advisory work.
• Foster a culture of analytical rigor, collaboration, continuous improvement and customer-focused partnership.
• Evaluate future capability and staffing needs as the Resource Planning function evolves.
• Ensure the team consistently delivers timely, accurate and actionable planning insights that support business decisions.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Develop strong working relationships with studio heads, production leaders, Finance, HR, Talent Acquisition and Development Strategy.
• Bring together teams that own different components of resource information and planning.
• Clarify roles, accountabilities and decision rights across resource-related processes.
• Facilitate alignment when individual studio needs and broader business priorities are in tension.
• Act as an objective advisor, enabling leaders to make informed decisions rather than centrally directing all resource deployment.
• Build credibility with studio teams by ensuring resource planning processes are practical, transparent and decision-oriented.

Capability and Process Development

• Assess current resource planning practices, tools, data and organizational capabilities.
• Design scalable processes that improve planning discipline without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Identify opportunities to leverage or repurpose existing resources in support of the new capability.
• Pilot new planning approaches with selected studios or business areas before broader implementation.
• Continuously improve methods, tools and reporting based on business needs and stakeholder feedback.

Leadership Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Establish the vision and operating model for the Resource Planning function.
• Build, coach and develop a high-performing team.
• Personally lead the organization's most complex resource planning initiatives and executive analyses.
• Build trusted partnerships across studio leadership, Finance, Production, HR and Talent Acquisition.
• Influence decisions through thoughtful analysis, practical recommendations and sound business judgment.
• Balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution, ensuring the team delivers high-quality work while remaining personally engaged in the most important priorities.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in resource planning, workforce planning, portfolio operations, production operations, business planning, capacity management or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing high-performing planning, operations, analytics or business teams.
• Experience supporting complex product development, technology, gaming, entertainment or project-based organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to connect workforce, financial, operational and delivery information into actionable business insights.
• Experience developing forecasting models, capacity plans or cross-functional planning processes.
• Strong analytical capability and the ability to translate data into practical business recommendations.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and align stakeholders across a matrixed organization.
• Strong understanding of internal staffing, contractors, outsourcing and external development partnerships.
• Excellent written, verbal and executive communication skills.
• Experience building or maturing planning capabilities, processes or operating models is preferred.

Measures of Success

Success in this role will be reflected through:

• Greater visibility into development capacity and future resource demand.
• Improved alignment among resource, financial and portfolio plans.
• Earlier identification of critical capacity and capability risks.
• Increased consideration and use of internal resource-sharing opportunities.
• More informed outsourcing and vendor decisions.
• Improved forecast accuracy and confidence in resource planning data.
• Reduced avoidable external spend and resource duplication where appropriate.
• Strong adoption of resource planning practices across studios and functions.
• Development of a high-performing Resource Planning team that is viewed as a trusted partner by studio and business leaders.
• Increased executive confidence in resource-related decisions.