Marketing Operations Specialist Jobs in California

POSITION SUMMARY
The Marketing Operations Specialist will support the planning, coordination, execution, and measurement of marketing campaigns for Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME products. This role will maintain project timelines, route marketing materials for approval, process purchase orders and invoices, update budget trackers, and coordinate the annual marketing calendar. The successful candidate will also support marketing initiatives related to Organized Play events and tournaments and work closely with cross-functional teams, including R&D, Sales, Web & Social, Digital Games, Events, Organized Play, and Finance. The ideal candidate will have experience supporting marketing campaigns or cross-functional projects, be highly organized and detail-oriented, and be comfortable managing multiple assignments and deadlines.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work closely with the Marketing Manager, Associate Social Media Manager, Sales, and R&D to support product communication strategies, including product positioning, creative strategy, advertising, promotions, and new-user acquisition initiatives.
• Assist with the development of proposals, budgets, and marketing plans for product releases, promotions, events and social media sweepstakes.
• Maintain the annual TCG marketing calendar and coordinate marketing activations and campaigns by tracking timelines, deliverables, milestones, deadlines, changes, and potential delays.
• Track the performance of marketing campaigns, activations, events, and promotions using available data and established KPIs, and prepare recaps outlining results, key learnings, and recommendations.
• Monitor competitive activity, consumer trends, market data, and relevant industry research, and share useful findings with the Marketing Team.
• Maintain marketing budget trackers and work with the Marketing Manager to monitor planned and actual spending.
• Coordinate the creation, processing, and tracking of marketing purchase orders and invoices, ensuring required documentation is complete and submitted on time.
• Route TCG Marketing Team requests, creative materials, campaign assets, and other deliverables through the appropriate internal and external approval processes.
• Assist in the development of trade product briefs, consumer-facing product pages, marketing summaries, and promotional materials that support product sales.
• Communicate with the external PR agency to help maintain consistent corporate and product messaging and support user-retention and new-user-acquisition efforts.
• Support initiatives focused on new-user acquisition and work with R&D and Organized Play teams on programs designed to introduce Yu-Gi-Oh! to new and younger players.
• Attend Organized Play events, tournaments, trade shows, retailer events, and other consumer-facing programs as needed.
• Assist with the development of online, print, and television advertising, including ad copy, scripts, and editorial messaging.
• Work with other KONAMI offices in New York, Japan, Europe, and other licensees to support cross-promotional opportunities.
• Cross-train across the Marketing Team to provide support when needed, including television commercial production, website updates, social media content uploading, project tracking, and approval coordination.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS

• BA/BS required.
• Two to four years of relevant experience in marketing, marketing operations, project management, gaming, consumer products, and/or digital entertainment preferred.
• Experience supporting marketing campaigns, cross-functional projects, timelines, deliverables, or approval processes.
• Experience working with budgets, purchase orders, invoices, or expense trackers preferred.
• Strong organizational and project-coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple assignments and deadlines.
• Ability to work independently on assigned responsibilities while knowing when to escalate questions, risks, or delays.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, and familiarity with project-management platforms such as Asana.
• Ability to review campaign results, market research, consumer insights, and competitive information and summarize key findings.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Professional demeanor with strong interpersonal skills.
• Must be detail-oriented and able to manage multiple projects and priorities.
• Ability to work effectively with various personality types and working styles in a multicultural environment.
• Knowledge of, or willingness to learn, the operations and gameplay of trading card games.
• Experience supporting live events, tournaments, trade shows, or consumer activations is a plus.
• Experience working in a corporate environment preferred.
• Experience marketing licensed products is a plus.
• Willingness to travel to tournaments and events as needed.
• Playing experience and knowledge of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME and the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and animated series are a plus.

Salary range: $75,000 to $85,000
Please send resumes to:
cardbusinessjobs@kde-us.com
with the subject line:
Marketing Operations Specialist