Development Manager

Job Description

Development Manager (Quality Verification)

QA Development Manager

Role Overview

The QA Development Manager (QA DM) and team are accountable for defining and delivering the QA project planning, requirements and deliverables for multiple EA titles. You will collaborate with partner program managers to establish schedules, define budgets and ensure the creation of test coverage and project metrics. A QA DM will play a critical role in defining and implementing critical knowledge transfer and the overall communication process with internal and external game teams. They will work embedded within the Development organization, drive continuous improvement of the QA practice across EA and actively knowledge share across the organization, have a strong Quality mindset from a consumer perspective, and be a strong advocate and influencer in game design and implementation decisions.

Role Description:

QA Development Managers must possess both a solid project management background and strong people management skills. Most of your time will be focused on ensuring that project deliverables are being completed on time and within budget while maintaining EA's high standard of quality. Additionally, you will focus on continually improving the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the QA effort by assessing current quality assurance practices and incorporating new QA strategies. You will work on department level initiatives as well as operational efficiency initiatives.

You will also spend time managing a direct staff of project leaders and mentoring/supporting junior level leadership within the department. Monitoring performance and delivering measurable feedback to direct reports is an essential function of this role. Embrace the challenge of mentoring and supporting a team of direct reports and contributing to the development of their careers. Establishing effective working relationships within the QA department, the QA project team and the outside business partners are critical to success in this role.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
• Manages a development team which generally consists of QA Designers, and Analysts.
• Works across Madden/NBA feature development teams to lock down requirements and specifications.
• Anticipates bottlenecks, provide management escalation, project prioritization, make tradeoffs, balance the business needs versus technical constraints, and drive partner engagement.
• Identifies task-related processes to improve efficiency
• Focuses on immediate team and identifies team issues and suggests solutions related to execution goals.
• Ensures each projects setup meets the specifications
• Provides regular status reporting and capacity plan updates.
• Tracks and implements project improvement plans to drive team efficiency.
• Defines engagement practices and processes: Ensure all workflow is clearly defined, processes are documented, and staff trained in expectations on the workflow.
• Mentors individual contributors within project team
• Ensures all have professional development plans/conducts regular one-on-ones.

What skills does EA look for?

A QADM is expected to have at a minimum: 3 years of experience in a software development environment, 2 years Project Management or Project Lead experience, and 1-2 years of leadership experience
• Bachelor's degree in any number of related fields including Computer Science, Game Production/Development, Business, etc..A Master's degree is a plus
• Excellent knowledge of production life cycle, tools, processes and executions planning.
• Experience in a Scrum / Agile software development environment.
• Proficient with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Jira
• Demonstrated experience in utilizing data to drive decisions.
• Strong negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution skills
• Effective communication skills across all levels of an organization
• Hands on experience with our sports titles is a plus.
• Experience working on Mobile/iOs/Android development strongly preferred

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gxepjr-3-137-178-133-42 in your application.