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External Development Manager

Bonfire is looking for an External Development Manager to help us build connections and maintain excellent relationships with our external art vendors. In this role you will oversee our external content development pipelines, work collaboratively with our in house production team and help us achieve our goals with the best outsourced content possible.

Bonfire Studios is a highly collaborative, cross-disciplinary environment where every developer’s voice shapes the company, the game, and the tasks we work on each day. As an External Development Manager on a small, focused team, you will have the opportunity to help progress our new IP and create amazing experiences for our players

In this role you will...

• Own the relationships between Bonfire and our external development partners to ensure a successful partnership.
• Research and evaluate potential vendors and contract talent.
• Structures and negotiates proposals that are beneficial to Bonfire while building strong trusting long term relationships.
• Proactively work with game development and business development to find the appropriate vendor and contract talent to support the team.
• Drive creative strategies for outsourcing that improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of our game production.
• Work closely with the Art Director and Art Outsourcing Supervisor to build high quality and sustainable results with our external vendors.
• Identify outsourcing needs and effectively coordinate their handling with our production team.
• Partners with finance to estimate budgets and align the studio on spend. Subsequently will manage that budget and provide ongoing visibility.
• Work closely with the legal and financial teams to prepare Statement of Work documents and approve invoices for payment.
• Advise the production team, artists and directors on the best course of action regarding vendor involvement, interaction and onboarding.
• Ensure our partner teams have the support they need to keep production running smoothly.

We're excited about you because you...

• Believe, as we do, that great games are the product of great teams that put their people first.
• Have the ability to predict, identify and resolve outsource pipeline risks.
• Have extensive experience in structuring art contracts and relationships to efficiently produce the best work possible from both parties.
• Enjoy developing effective schedules and making sure things are delivered cost effectively and on-time.
• Have exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Have extensive experience navigating external vendor evaluations and authorization processes.
• Enjoy finding new outsourcing partners and maintaining relationships with multiple external vendors.
• Have strong analytical and problem solving skills and enjoy tackling complex issues.
• Have a solid understanding of the game industry and art creation process.
• Are able to quickly adapt to change and work effectively in previously undefined spaces.
• Deeply value building trust with the people you work with.
• Value working with a diverse team and welcome different perspectives.
• Have a growth mindset and also care about helping others develop.
• Are as passionate about the creative process and developing games as we are!

You'll love working at Bonfire because we...

• Have strong values that include transparency, ownership, and trust. We are a people-first studio that also strives for a high bar of excellence in our creations.
• Celebrate craft expertise because we are a small, tight-knit group of highly experienced game developers who are as passionate about our team as we are our game.
• Offer opportunities to learn and contribute beyond your focused discipline in areas of interest or passion.
• Practice candor and feedback, leveling ourselves and each other up in the process.
• Play games and have fun together, kindling our own love for games and learning about each other.