A unique position with a core focus on development of talent – specifically our engineers - who make our games engaging, fun, and feel amazing to play. As a member of the Engineering Team, you will help fulfill our studio mission to create the best games and the best careers in the industry by enabling a great employee experience.
Given our highly autonomous culture, you will partner with project leaders and executive leadership, and will be a key person the engineers look to for growth, coaching, and inspiration to do their best work. Your experience in engineering, combined with nurturing talent in others, will help you succeed in this role. Operating as the People Manager for Engineers, you will be responsible for 10 or more team members and an advocate for engineering’s individual and collective needs. We expect you to uphold our practices in leading individuals and leading our culture. This position is a senior role and reports to the Head of People and Culture.
At Undead Labs, we work in highly collaborative, cross-discipline teams because we understand that the best ideas are ones we generate together. We are creators of the hit survival-fantasy franchise, State of Decay, played by millions, and we operate independently as part of a network of studios now owned by Microsoft. We have a rich history of entrepreneurship and empowerment that will carry us forward as we reach new levels of quality, ambition, and polish.
We have office hubs in Seattle, WA, Champaign, IL, and Orlando, FL and are also able to employ people in Texas and California. If you are currently located in one of these locations, or open to relocation, we'd love to hear from you!
Core Responsibilities & Objectives
- Spend time in dialogue with team members and coworkers to understand our business priorities, talent needs, and employee experience aspirations
- Build trust and rapport with direct report team members and learn each person’s passions, skills, and desires for their career
- Help direct report team members find work that combines their interests and talents with studio opportunities and needs
- Give specific and timely feedback to direct reports team members based on firsthand observations and perspectives you gather from others
- Help team members understand organizational goals, and their meaning, and how their work fits into these
- Provide coaching and development that improves direct report team members’ skills, impact, confidence, and capability to create great games
- Support direct report team members in self-directed problem solving, goal-setting, and help them achieve their job and career goals
- Acts as a consultant to executive leadership, advising on studio-level gaps and solutions
Studio-Level Responsibilities
- Invest in developing and growing our studio talent
- Foster engagement, safety, collaboration, accountability, and community
- Share strategy and long-term planning and vision
- Partner with other leaders to staff project and product teams
- Help shape the design of tools and practices that impact the employee experience (e.g., selection, pay, employee communications, performance measures, etc.)
Core Traits (Skills, Knowledge, Experience)
- Experience and skills in the craft of engineering, to help advise the team
- Curiosity, empathy, high self-awareness, and constant growth mindset
- Ability to create an inclusive team environment
- Productive and results-oriented
- Excellent in 2-way communication with others, in both spoken and written language
- Skilled in providing coaching and feedback to all types of individuals
- Understands the dynamics of humans at work, including differences in personality styles, motivations, and maturation of individuals and teams
- Has demonstrated experience in mentoring and teaching others
- Adept at listening, gathering information, and assessing and diagnosing problems
- Ideally brings several years of experience in both engineering and managing people, preferably in games or software design industry
Physical Requirements
Close vision to monitors and screens, consistently working on computer equipment such as keyboards and monitors, long periods of sitting. Noise levels are low to moderate in the work environment. Reasonable accommodations can be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Undead Labs is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.