Lead Game Developer

Searching for someone who can design, code, AND lead engineering efforts to deliver world-class gaming experiences. 

• Work with the Design Lead to create a compelling, top tier gameplay experience.  
• Be responsible for the success of the gameplay programming team.  
• Ensure efficient and timely delivery of core gameplay features and communicate to other leads if the team is not scoped properly. Collaborate with other project leads to ensure the engineering team is delivering effectively.  
• Distill high-level feature requests into meaningful, actionable tasks and effectively delegate those to the team.  
• Architect the systems needed to deliver gameplay features, and communicate intentions, assumptions, and constraints.  
• Participate in writing code – the lead needs to have direct understanding of the code and challenges facing the team.  
• Proactively identify opportunities and risks to improve the work of the team, the quality of the project, and studio knowledge as a whole.  
• Maintain the relationship between stakeholders, often working as a conduit for communication.  
• Work with a quick and decisive pace, and a positive attitude. 
• Play the game at all stages of production to write up detailed bugs and make suggestions for improvement. 
• Understand the entire production pipeline and each development discipline. 

Requirements:

• 8+ years related experience and/or training, or equivalent combination of education and experience. 
• A proven track record of working in a technical, decision-making role for a minimum of two AAA titles that have shipped. Multiplayer experience is essential. 
• Have a thorough understanding of each discipline in game development to communicate a consistent vision across all production departments.  
• Experience growing a game team, managing people through product launch. 
• Experience working directly with game production software and pipelines.  
• A strong history of balancing game mechanic specifications with design iteration needs and performance requirements. 
• Strong C++ skills and the ability to code gameplay mechanics and tools.  

Nice to Have 

• Experience shipping games in a shooter genre and UGC tool sets 
• Experience as a department lead for a game-as-a-service product.  
• Experience working in Unreal Engine. 
• Exceptional communication and collaborative skills to ensure quality while accepting input from department subject matter experts.  
• Strong analytical skills as well as a basic understanding of technical requirements as related to game production.  
• Bachelor’s Degree (or above) in computer science. 
• Office365 and Google Suite proficiency.  
• A mindset of continuous improvement; humble and ambitious. 
• Prior experience in a startup environment or small business.