Associate Brand Manager

ABOUT US

WE'RE NOT REALLY STRANGERS is a card game and media brand focused on bringing people closer through conversation. As a fast-growing creative company, we value collaboration, creativity, and impactful storytelling and design. We are looking for an Associate Brand Manager to help drive brand operations, product innovation, market insights, and cross-functional collaboration across the WNRS games division.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We're looking for an Associate Brand Manager to sit at the heart of our games division —reporting

directly to the CEO. This is a research-led, insight-driven role focused on keeping us sharp on the

competitive landscape, managing the flow of our innovation pipeline, ensuring brand consistency,

and acting as the connective tissue between the games division and our marketing and sales

teams. You won't be running campaigns, but you'll be the person who makes sure marketing and

sales have everything they need to do so effectively. It's a broad, hands-on role in a lean team

where clarity, organization, and strong cross-functional relationships are everything.

AT A GLANCE

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Works closely with: R&D, Marketing, Sales

Location: Remote, with potential quarterly HQ visits and travel to key customer meetings as

required

Travel: Up to 10%

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Innovation Pipeline Management

▸ Support the management of the product innovation pipeline — tracking concepts from initial

idea through development stages and maintaining visibility across the leadership team.

▸ Assist the Creative Director in evaluating new game concepts against brand positioning,

market opportunity, and consumer trends.

▸ Coordinate internal reviews and stage-gate processes, keeping the pipeline moving and

stakeholders informed.

Competitive Analysis & Industry Trends

▸ Own ongoing competitive analysis across the tabletop games market — tracking competitor

titles, retail strategies, pricing, positioning, and creative execution.

▸ Monitor and synthesize industry trends across tabletop gaming, hobby retail, and adjacent

categories, delivering regular insight reports to the Leadership team.

▸ Conduct point-of-sale analysis across key retail channels, identifying opportunities and risks to

our shelf presence and trade positioning.

▸ Translate market intelligence into clear, actionable recommendations that inform brand

strategy and pipeline prioritization.

Marketing & Sales Liaison

▸ Serve as the primary liaison between the games division and the marketing and sales teams,

ensuring smooth communication and alignment on priorities.

▸ Prepare and deliver comprehensive product handover packages to marketing at the

appropriate stage — including positioning, key messages, audience insights, competitive

context, and relevant brand assets — so campaigns can be briefed and executed without

ongoing involvement from the creative studio.

▸ Develop clear design and brand briefs that give the Creative Director and creative team the

context needed to produce effective, on-brand work.

▸ Work with sales to ensure they are equipped with up-to-date product knowledge, brand

materials, and trade-facing content.

Financial Planning & Pro Forma P&L

▸ Participate in the management and maintenance of a pro forma line P&L for the brand and

R&D team, projecting the revenue of the product slate in development.

▸ Work with the CEO and relevant stakeholders to keep revenue projections current as products

progress through the pipeline, reflecting changes in scope, timing, or market conditions.

▸ Use P&L insights to inform pipeline prioritization and help the team make commercially

grounded decisions about which concepts to advance, pause, or accelerate.

Trade & Retail Brand

▸ In conjunction with the Sales team, coordinate the creation and delivery of retail support

materials — sell sheets, trade catalogues, display assets — in collaboration with the creative

team.

▸ Assess retail performance and identify opportunities to strengthen our in-store and online

presence.

Project Management & Coordination

▸ Manage collaborative project workflows across the games division, ensuring briefs, assets,

and deliverables move efficiently between teams and external partners.

▸ Own the coordination of reviews and approvals — tracking what needs sign-off, from whom, and

by when, and keeping the process moving without bottlenecks.

▸ Maintain clear project status visibility for the CEO and Creative Director, flagging risks to

timelines early and proposing solutions.

▸ Assist in the implementation of playtesting concepts and analyzing findings for revisions

leading to optimal gameplay experience.

Brand Identity & Consistency

▸ Act as guardian of the brand day-to-day, ensuring all materials — internal and external —

adhere to brand guidelines across visual identity, tone of voice, and messaging.

▸ Maintain brand guidelines in support of the Creative Director, keeping them accurate,

accessible, and actionable for internal teams and external partners.

▸ Review brand applications across packaging, promotional materials, digital assets, and

partner-produced content, flagging and resolving inconsistencies proactively.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required

▸ 3+ years in brand management, marketing, or a related role, ideally within consumer products,

publishing, or the games/hobby industry.

▸ Strong analytical and research skills — experienced in competitive analysis, market research,

or consumer insight, and able to translate findings into clear recommendations.

▸ Solid understanding of brand identity principles and the discipline to apply them consistently

across diverse materials and channels.

▸ Proven ability to work across functions — comfortable bridging creative, commercial,

marketing, and sales teams with clarity and credibility.

▸ Experience developing well-structured briefs and product handover documentation that enable

other teams to act independently.

▸ Comfortable working with financial planning tools and P&L models — able to maintain and

interrogate a pro forma with confidence, even if not a finance specialist.

▸ Highly organized with strong project management skills — able to track multiple workstreams

and keep stakeholders aligned without being chased.

▸ Strong written and verbal communication skills — able to synthesize complex information

clearly and communicate with confidence across all levels of the business.

▸ A curious, open mindset toward AI tools and emerging technologies — actively exploring how

they can be applied to research, briefing, workflow, and team efficiency, and comfortable

trialing and implementing new tools in a practical, team-facing way.

Nice to Have

▸ Genuine enthusiasm for tabletop games — board games, card games, roleplaying games, or

the wider hobby market.

▸ Experience in trade or retail marketing, particularly within games, toy, or hobby channels.

▸ Familiarity with innovation pipeline or product development processes.

▸ Exposure to point-of-sale or retail performance analysis.

▸ Ability to develop and deliver compelling presentations — whether for internal stakeholders, retail partners, or leadership reviews.