Director of Engineering
Seattle, WA
The Director of Engineering is responsible for assessing and validating the technical development of all company game products, including those developed internally and those developed by 3rd parties.
In this role, the Director of Engineering:
- Works closely with the Director of Design, Director of Art, and VP of Development as a key member of development group
- Participates in developer due diligence activities to assess technical pipelines and engineering processes
- Reviews and provides feedback to Producers on all product Technical Design Documents (TDDs) and ongoing technical deliverables for all milestone drops
- Collaborates across internal divisions to ensure our development partners are implementing the optimal technical vision for each product by balancing input from the Development, Research, and Production groups
- Defines and spearheads the creation of engineering services used for development support such as contracting assistance and outsourcing
Key Responsibilities:
- Work with the other members of the development group to assess the viability of development partners
- Analyze technical pipelines, processes, budgets, personnel plans and engineering staff through on-site visits to potential development partners and through the assessment of builds and documentation.
- Understand development partners team structures, roles and responsibilities, and leadership skills
- Assess technical pros and cons and complete due diligence reports with clear written recommendations
- Regularly review all product milestone drops including builds, schedules, documentation, tools, assets, etc. as required to provide clear recommendations to the production staff
- Represents engineering concerns for all projects during slate plan development, milestone review meetings, and ongoing green-light meetings (as necessary)
- Identify tools, programs, 3rd party software and/or hardware that could be helpful to our development partners and make recommendations as necessary to assist them in achieving success
- Coordinates with producers to assure our products adhere to required company technical specifications (as necessary)
- Interact with executives and management to keep abreast of long-term objectives and adjust short-term objectives to match
- Collaborate across internal divisions to ensure our development partners are implementing the optimal technical vision for each product by balancing input from the Development, Research, and Production groups
- Establish, maintain and enhance company relationships with inside and outside engineering resources, third party vendors, and development partners
- Participates in departmental meetings to share ideas
- Collaborate with the VP of Development and VP of Production in the creation, implementation and management of engineering production processes, policies and procedures
- Analyze competitive products and new business opportunities from a technical perspective and make recommendations to senior management
- Work with other divisions (including WHV, DD, GBM, Theatrical, Television and Animation) as required identifying and executing synergistic opportunities
- As needed, identify and spearhead the concept of engineering services for development partners
- Ensure development partners and teams have sufficient management bandwidth to successfully incorporate engineering outsourcing into their development pipeline, and make recommendations on best practices
- Assist development partners in selecting engineering subcontractors and approve engineering subcontractors on the company's behalf as required per project
- Coordinate between development teams to facilitate the sharing of information, assets, services or ideas that may be helpful to another team
- Create a positive, forward-focused work-environment that indentifies and prioritizes issues for solution
- Mentor internal staff and act as a role-model for all development partner engineers by emphasizing project goals and maintaining core focus
Job Qualifications:
- 10+ years of professional engineering experience with 5+ years as team lead or technical manager
- Must have shipped at least 3 titles in a senior engineering role
- Expert knowledge of C/C++ development
- Experience developing for consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360 preferred)
- Familiarity with leading 3D-engines, tools and pipelines (e.g., Unreal, Gamebryo, etc.)
- In-depth knowledge of core videogame technologies and including rendering, streaming, memory management, threading/multi-core development, optimization techniques, tools development, AI, game-play systems, etc.
- Excellent leadership, communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills
- Ability to communicate well with many external partners to facilitate the sharing of ideas and services
- Ability to work well under pressure and with deadlines
- BS degree in Computer Science (or equivalent field)
- Strong interest in video game development
- Valid Passport
Preferred:
- Experience as a Director of Engineering, Technical Director, or Engineering Manager within a videogame developer/publisher
- Experience as a licensee and/or licensor of videogame technologies
- Experience performing technical due diligence of developers and milestone assessments
- M.S. in Computer Science / Software Engineering
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