Director, Gen AI for Games
Netflix is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with over 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.
We're seeking a visionary and pragmatic Head of Gen AI to lead the strategy and application of Gen AI across our games organization. This role sits at the intersection of technology, product, and creativity - driving how we leverage cutting-edge AI to create meaningful, novel, and scalable experiences for players.
You'll serve as a key partner to our game studios, technology and platform teams, and leadership. Your mandate is to shape and scale our approach to Generative AI, from core capabilities to in-game features to entirely new forms of play, anchored in both what's technically feasible and what's compelling for players.
Key Responsibilities
- Define and lead the Gen AI strategy across Netflix Games, helping to shape foundational infrastructure to player-facing features.
- Identify and evaluate opportunities to apply Gen AI across our portfolio and studios both in the creation of new experiences and improving our workflows and pipelines.
- Engage with game teams to develop prototype features and AI-native gameplay mechanics, ensuring technical viability and product-market fit.
- Partner with external researchers, developers, and companies pioneering work within the Gen AI.
- Stay on the forefront of AI research and emerging tools, separating hype from high-leverage opportunities that align with our development and player goals.
- Collaborate with our engineering and platform teams to build robust solutions and scale core capabilities (e.g., model inference, fine-tuning pipelines, data infrastructure, etc).
- Build relationships with external developers, startups, and research groups at the forefront of Gen AI, identifying where their innovations can meaningfully accelerate or complement our internal efforts. Chart clear, strategic paths for partnership, integration, or co-development.
- Influence broader company thinking around Gen AI, creative collaboration, and impact in games.
Qualifications
We're looking for a leader who deeply understands the unique landscape of game development and can strategically apply AI/ML to create impactful and transformative player experiences.
- 10+ years of experience in the games industry, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end game development lifecycle, from concept to live operations. You should be passionate about games and the future of interactive entertainment, with direct involvement in shipping multiple titles.
- Proven experience leveraging AI/ML in a product environment, with at least the last 2-3 years leading or significantly contributing to Generative AI initiatives (LLMs, diffusion, multimodal systems).
- Familiarity with AI/ML fundamentals, including core concepts, common ML problems and algorithms, and the end-to-end ML lifecycle (data collection, model training, deployment, monitoring).
- Understanding of AI/ML data and infrastructure needs, enabling you to critically assess AI/ML proposals and solutions, identify practical applications, consult researchers, and spot potential pitfalls. While not expected to be a hands-on expert, you should have a strong grasp of the underlying principles.
- Deep understanding of the Gen AI ecosystem – open models, data requirements, infrastructure and tooling, safety frameworks, and the trade-offs between hosted and in-house solutions.
- Strong product instincts and a player-first mindset – you know when and how Gen AI adds real value to the experience.
- Comfortable navigating from research prototypes to production-ready systems in a fast-paced, cross-functional setting, in partnership with engineering and AI research teams and game studios.
- Excellent communicator with the ability to translate between technical complexity and creative potential, inspiring both engineers and designers.
- Track record of building high-performing, lean teams who can deliver impact in a rapidly evolving domain.
Netflix is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with over 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries. We entertain our members through TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.
Our mission is to entertain the world, one fan at a time. We deliver the next series, films and games you'll obsess over, reaching over half a billion people globally across more than 190 countries and 50 languages.
April 9, 2026
5-7 business days
After submission
- •Role explicitly centers on Generative AI strategy and applied use across product, engineering, and game studios (strong strategic application).
- •Specifically calls out prototyping AI-native gameplay, model inference, fine-tuning pipelines, and data infrastructure — clear workflow integration and productionization signals.
- •Mentions concrete AI technologies (LLMs, diffusion, multimodal systems, open models) and expects familiarity with ML lifecycle, indicating required tool proficiency.
This is a high-quality senior leadership role with strong explicit compensation and a clear strategic mandate to shape Generative AI across Netflix Games. The posting provides strong evidence for esteem and safety needs (stable employer, high pay, leadership scope) and good signals for impactful, creative work. Gaps are primarily in explicit benefits/total rewards detail, team/reporting clarity, and on-site flexibility — all important for candidate evaluation at this senior level. Overall the job scores highly across Maslow’s hierarchy but would benefit from clearer operational and people-level details.
- •No explicit benefits or total rewards details in the posting (healthcare, retirement, equity/vesting specifics) — compensation is high but benefits/context are missing.
- •Role scope and reporting structure are vague: posting asks to build teams and influence broadly but does not state current team size, direct reports, or who this role reports to.
- •Strict on-site requirement (Los Angeles) may limit flexibility and could be a concern for candidates expecting hybrid/remote options at this senior level.
- •Very strong and explicit compensation range ($430k–$840k) for a senior director role.
- •Clear senior strategic remit: define Gen AI strategy, influence company thinking, shape product and infrastructure.
- •Concrete expectations around cross-functional partnership with game studios, engineering, platform teams and external research partners.
- •Can you describe the initial team this Director, Gen AI for Games will own or build? Who does the role report to, and what direct reports or hires are expected in the first 12 months?
- •What are the top 3 Gen AI initiatives or projects you expect this role to deliver in the first 6–12 months, and what metrics will define success for those efforts?
- •How does Netflix support professional development and experimentation for senior technical leaders (e.g., budgets/time for research, prototyping, conferences, mentorship)?
Location
Salary Range
$430k - $840k
Employment Type
Full-time
Experience Level
Senior
Posted
January 9, 2026 (2 weeks ago)
3 Simple Steps
Prepare
Update your resume and write a tailored cover letter
Submit
Complete the online application form
Get Interviewed
Typically receive response within 5-7 business days
Documents Needed
Ready to apply?
Ensure you have all documents ready
💡 Mention you found this on Forward Future
