Technical Director

Job Description

Just 13 miles south of Manchester and only a 15-minute train journey, is the attractive market town of Wilmslow. Here amongst the boutique shops and independent cafes and bars is the stunning Playdemic studio. Acquired by EA in 2021, Playdemic is home to the top 10 grossing, BAFTA award-winning mobile smash – Golf Clash.

Having opened at the beginning of 2020, our award-winning, custom studio space offers conventional desk space and indulgent breakout areas, meeting rooms and alternative workspaces. The office has been designed to create an environment that encourages and allows our team to do their very best work.

Playdemic are looking for a Studio Technical Director to work on a Studio level overseeing the technical direction of all our games, including our smash hit Golf Clash. As a Studio Technical Director on the Golf Clash team, you will work closely with and mentor the engineering team. You will also lead all technical aspects, including the technical design, DevOps and our technical teams including our engine, server and client teams to deliver high quality features to millions of players.

Leader Responsibilities
• Provide technical leadership to the Studio – both technological strength and mentorship – inspiring and motivating the Engineering Team
• Promote a development culture of healthy accountability, maximizing potential and pride in accomplishments
• Build a partnership with the Studio General Manager, establishing trust and credibility with executive staff and partners
• Lead the Engineering discipline, hire into and grow the discipline, provide regular mentorship and career development to Technical Directors

Tech Responsibilities
• Set Studio technical standards, define high-level architecture, processes, tools, and technical budgets
• Create and manage a Studio technical roadmap to forecast delivery dates and account for dependencies and risk
• Approve high-risk/impact technical designs, implementation strategies, and live service support plans
• Ensure the quality, performance and stability of technical deliverables meet commitments
• Principle reviewer and approver of technical gates and milestone review approvals
• Lead important partnerships as principal relationship manager with executive leaders throughout the company
• Work with IT to provide world-class development environments
• Work with Studio discipline Leaders and external partners to lead creation of world-class tools and efficiencies for Studio developers
• Manage technical dependencies and risks
• Collaborate and manage partnerships with internal technical partners
• Work as part of the Studio Leadership Team
• Understand and help define product vision and our needs
• Represent the Studio and Teams to partners
• Balance technical, product and business requirements to achieve successful outcomes
• You will empower and manage expectations for production and design
• Partner on development processes and project planning
• Conduct research necessary to achieve desired outcomes and evolve our technology

Qualifications
• 12+ years software development experience
• 7+ years of technical leadership experience
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science (or equivalent experience)
• Leadership experience developing and launching games
• Knowledge of one of the following languages: C#/Java/C++
• Solid knowledge of game application technology, spanning client and server systems
• Experience working within an Agile development process
• Experience with distributed development
• Experience running a large-scale live service
• Servant Leadership experience

Bonus Additional Skills
• Familiarity with the following technologies: Unity/AWS/Redis/Jenkins
• Expertise in iOS and Android platform development
• Prior experience with console/PC development
• Multiplayer technology service experience
• Distributed systems experience

#LI-Hybrid, #LI-Onsite, #FlexibleWork

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d8p359-3-141-199-243-42 in your application.