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Executive Producer
2 years ago
Would you like to work on some of the greatest franchises in gaming history? What about working on our new original IP? Certain Affinity is the largest independent developer in Texas, based out of Austin, and we have a growing presence in Toronto, Canada. Our culture reflects the values and the vibrant nature of the cities we call home. This includes a commitment to evolution, diversity, excellence, and work-life balance. We are also excited to be the latest recipient of the Canadian Studio of the Year award . We're best known for co-developing numerous AAA FPS games, though now we are creating compelling new games of our own. We're always on the lookout for amazing talent to join our team.
We are looking for an experienced, dynamic, inspiring, and highly organized Executive Producer to join our team and play a key role in leading one or more projects at our studio. The successful candidate will have outstanding communication skills, a proven track record as a leader in game development, and has a good head for business and live service operations. This opportunity will help steer the development activities of a project or multiple projects, coordinating, tracking, and guiding the activities of a full development staff juggling multiple projects and priorities to ensure that projects are completed on time and at a high quality. This role will be part of and partner with our Senior Leadership Team to ensure that their projects are stable and profitable, including instituting safety nets and backups to continue Certain Affinity's unprecedented legacy of profitability and stability.
The ideal candidate is passionate about games and game development with a healthy interest in and respect for the business and partner relationship side of making games. You'll demonstrate strong leadership skills, spot issues early, have a great eye for quality, solve complex and team-related challenges quickly and effectively, have a reasonable understanding of design, extensive production experience, and an understanding of games as a service. The right candidate is highly motivated and thrives in a highly collaborative and always changing environment, knows how to lead, organize development teams for success, and takes great pride in crafting amazing experiences for players. Come make great games with us!
A cover letter and resume are required for consideration.
Responsibilities
Leadership
- Foster and grow a versatile, resilient, and high-functioning team that embraces accountability, seek opportunities to maximize their potential, and takes pride in their accomplishments
- Build an effective partnership with the company’s Senior Leadership Team and establish trust and credibility with the studio’s department heads and key staff
- Build and manage a strong project leadership team and strengthen the project discipline leads through training, coaching, and mentoring
- Nurture an engaging, fulfilling, and fun work environment that promotes the company’s values and supports the creation of AAA game experience for our players
- Serve as the “Chief Morale Officer” on each of your development teams, ensuring that all material team member issues are solved effectively and promptly to allow the developers to focus on what matters most – making great games
Operations
- Identify, manage, and solve operational and project risks
- Coordinate and partner with business operations departments such as Finance, Central Technology, Core QA, Recruiting, HR, Facilities, and IT to ensure team and project success
- Identify, assign, and track development and operational issues and risks to completion and resolution
- Solve complex partner and business problems and balance priorities across multiple disciplines and teams
Business Management
- Responsible for managing partner relations, whether it is a publisher or a co-dev partner
- Manage the project P&L, including operating budgets, revenue projections, and resourcing
- Partner with the finance and business development teams to create and maintain forecasts and long-term financial plans
- Identify financial risks and work to mitigate them before they become a problem; identify business opportunities and work to take advantage of them to maximize company results
- Partner with the business development team on pitches, RFP responses, and contract negotiations, including direct interactions with publishers and/or clients
Development
- Guide project planning and execution for the project through studio department heads and dedicated project directors; hold teams accountable always to meet milestone commitments and quality targets
- Validate project plans for project teams, including scope, schedule, dependencies, risks, and risk mitigation plans
- Coordinate project dependencies with supporting departments across the company
- Push efficiencies and new ways of thinking to reduce inefficiency and increase productivity
- Keep the team informed on development results, schedules, and changes
- Report status at regular intervals to the development team and the Senior Leadership Team and escalate urgent issues promptly
- Set goals and priorities that help teams focus on the most critical items: filter issues based on a clear understanding of project strategies and objectives
- Solve problems of all types as they arise, balance priorities, and find creative and efficient solutions that achieve results
Requirements
- 15+ years of overall game development experience and 7+ years leading a production-oriented team that has shipped multiple AAA console and PC action titles
- Proven track record of building highly effective business interpersonal relationships and generating new business
- Experienced game business leader with thorough knowledge of a variety of business models, strategies, and approaches, including outsourcing, co-development, games as a service, and free-to-play games
- Experience building high functioning, quality-driven, no-nonsense teams that deliver incredible results
- Highly organized, detail-oriented, self-directed, and capable of instilling that characteristic in others
- Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills
- Strong time management skills with the ability to engage across all disciplines, assess risk, define priorities, and resolve a wide array of problems of varying complexity
- Ability to multi-task and handle many discrete, highly varied tasks at once without losing focus or dropping the ball on any critical individual items
- Deep knowledge of game development – team dynamics, common development hurdles, game engines and technology, development milestone definitions, production process and methodology, outsourcing and co-development, scheduling, etc.
- An experienced driver of accountability and improvement within organizations and teams of a comparable scale and complexity
- Cool-headed, high integrity, a diplomatic leader able to maintain critical confidentiality and to have crucial, and at times sensitive, conversations with both partners and internal teams
- An inspirational leader who can “inspire” and “rally the troops” to capitalize on opportunities or to overcome obstacles through exceptional communication, motivation, planning, and organization
- An experienced leader with deep knowledge of the game industry covering business, entertainment, and technology
- A truth-telling leader who “leads from the front” by not asking others to do things that they are not also willing to do themselves
- Avid gamer on multiple platforms
- A desire to work and support a diverse and inclusive environment
Extra Credit
- Experience working, partnering, and fostering productive relationships with established brands, publishers, and/or IP holders
- Previous experience as a Production Director, Game Director, Development Director, or Executive Producer
- Experience with large-scale development using UE4
- Experience with online multiplayer and/or FPS titles
Certain Affinity or its partners or affiliates run background checks on candidates or employees with the written authorization from the candidates or employees. These may be done for the purposes of offering employment or determining eligibility to work on a specific project. Multiple searches may be required.
Certain Affinity does not accept unsolicited referrals or resumes from any source other than directly from candidates.
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