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Development Director
Electronic Arts
Austin, TX, United States
Job Details - this job has expired, please see similar jobs below
At Electronic Arts we put our players first, and we’re looking for the most talented and creative game developers to help us become the world’s #1 mobile gaming company. Mobile is the future of our industry and the future of our company. Our mobile team is growing fast, with exciting studios around the world and a portfolio of blockbuster titles like The Simpsons: Tapped Out, FIFA, Madden, Real Racing, Plants vs. Zombies, and the Sims.
The Red Crow Studio in Austin, Texas is looking for a Development Director to join our successful development team working on The Simpsons: Tapped Out.
The Position
As a Development Director (DD), you’ll manage a variety of disciplines including artists, software engineers, as well as junior Development Managers. DD's are the keepers of the project schedule and play a vital role in successfully moving the development team from one project phase to the next while ensuring a strong focus on quality, collaboration, and communication. They must partner closely with Producers to ensure that they are managing the project on time, to quality, and within budget.
Responsibilities
• Communicates the big picture to studio management to ensure everyone is strategically aligned.
• Works with studio & team leaders to keep them informed of team initiatives including costs, successes & failures, project status, etc.
• Coordinates planning and review of multiple groups to form an overall project plan.
• Ensures planned capacity will deliver project on time, to quality, and within budget.
• Formulates risk & dependency strategies for the entire project, works with the team and studio leadership to manage those risks & dependencies.
• Drives & executes change management initiatives within the team.
• Responsible for providing an accurate accounting of monthly expenses incurred on the project.
• Enforces and ensures the appropriate financial control processes and procedures are being followed within the team.
• Responsible for interactions with external EA groups to plan work and milestone deliverables that fit within the overall plan.
• Works with Legal & Business Development teams to create and exercise clear work orders and deal sheets for contracted services.
• Provide strong leadership to the team, inspire and motivate the team through personal example, enthusiasm, and dedication.
• Evaluate individual performance and potential of team members, provide appropriate recognition or constructive feedback.
• Form close working relationships with discipline leads, provide regular coaching and mentoring.
• Assesses skill requirements for current & future projects, communicates those skill needs to studio leadership, and develops plans to address those skill needs.
• Establish trust and credibility with team Producer as well as studio leadership.
• Understands the competitive market for their products/services and uses this to define appropriate quality benchmarks.
• Works with team to ensure there are clear definitions of quality and defines the processes to achieve those quality benchmarks. Mentors junior DDs and team members on those processes, targets, & metrics.
Requirements
• 7+ years in a project management role within the software development industry
• 2+ years in a team leadership role, strong people management skills
• Solid foundation in project management (including Agile methodology)
• Understanding of the software development life cycle
• Experience working with JIRA, Hansoft, or similar tool
• Comfortable using Excel to model and analyze data
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills
• Strong negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution skills
• High degree of initiative, self-starter, looks for opportunities to make improvements
• Ownership mentality, results oriented, invested in outcomes
• Strong work ethic, leads by example
• Comfortable presenting and interacting with groups
• Thorough documentation and writing ability
• Attention to detail
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
Assets
• Familiarity with EA’s mobile products
• Master’s degree in a related field
• Project management certifications or training
• Experience working on high-profile, licensed product