This job might no longer be available.

Lead Programmer

Lab42 is a best-in-class cross-platform game developer based in Leamington Spa, UK. Since our founding as a small indie studio, our headcount has grown into a team full of talented, experienced people supported by a veteran management team with backgrounds from SEGA, Codemasters and EA.

As well as working on our own IP, we also offer co-development services to a growing list of clients, including Paradox, SEGA and Curve Digital. We work on some of the best titles around, such as Call of Duty, Crusader Kings, Yakuza, Star Wars Racer and much more, without losing touch with the anti-crunch and people-first values our studio was founded upon.

Lab42 is made up of a diverse mix of fantastic people, and we embrace all the elements that make our team unique. We’re an inclusive studio and welcome applications from qualified applicants of any background, regardless of race, age, disability, gender identity or neurodiversity.

Lab42 Games are looking to recruit a Lead Programmer to lead projects and manage programmers. From assigning tasks to writing code, and from mentoring junior coders to checking on the wellbeing of your team to meeting with clients, a Lead Programmer will have the opportunity to look after code and people as they work with a range of highly regarded IPs and external partners on many different platforms.

This is a lead level role, with a strong expectation of many years of experience within the games industry specifically. In addition to managing your team and project, and writing code, you will be expected to be hands-on with mentoring, setting technical direction, aiding your team in finding solutions to problems, and working with clients and other departments on a day to day basis.

Experience of leading teams is essential, as you will need to be versed in shepherding projects to completion by working with a producer while you keep track of your team's progress. You will be relied upon to be pro-active in looking for technical and managerial solutions to potential problems with code and people before they cause lasting issues. You will need to be self-motivated and capable of working without direct supervision, but you will be expected to feed back periodically to the Technical and Development Directors.

You Will:

• Write high quality code that can be delivered on time
• Work on a wide variety of projects and tasks in various engines and languages
• Mentor and develop more junior members of the team
• Lead a programming team by planning and directing your own work and the work of your team
• Liaise with other disciplines and teams within the studio and external partners to facilitate development
• Ensure that build pipelines are in place to deliver regular, testable builds
• Interview candidates for programming roles within the studio
• Report to the Technical Director and assist in drawing up policy and best practices
• Adhere to and enforce programming best practices and standards

The Role Requires:

• Experience of leading the technical direction of games projects
• Experience of leading teams of programmers
• Multiple years of experience working in games in a senior capacity, working with colleagues and stakeholders across departments
• Excellent knowledge of C++ and C#
• Experience of working with other languages like Java and Objective-C, or scripting languages like Lua or Python
• An understanding of working with the command line
• A working understanding of different consoles and/or game streaming platforms, in addition to PC development
• Experience of writing technical documentation, to document investigations, approaches, and features

What we would like to see, but is not essential:

• Shipped titles in Unreal Engine and Unity
• Experience of working with clients directly to ascertain their needs
• Experience of implementing automation for building projects and code
• Experience with build systems (e.g. Jenkins, TeamCity)
• Shipped titles on mobile

. Defined Annual Bonus Scheme

. ULEV car scheme

. Monthly allowance to spend on enhancing benefits

. Salary Sacrifice Pension

. Flexible Working

. 21 days free-use holiday

+ your birthday off

+ 5 learning days including 1 volunteer day

+ a duvet day

+ Christmas shutdown from Christmas Eve to New Year

+ Bank Holidays

+ extra allowance accrued for longer service

. Free dental insurance

. Life Assurance 4x Salary

. Income Protection of 75% for 5 years

. Enhanced Mat/Paternity & Adoption pay

. Employee Assistance Programme:

. Help at Hand - Remote GP, Mental Health & Physio appointments

. Free financial & home buying support consultations

. Cycle to Work Scheme

. Payroll Giving Scheme

. Access to 4,000 Udemy Courses

. Career Development Pathway

. Wrap Parties.

. Project Completion Awards

. Game/Creative Jams

. Big Family Events

. Studio social activities, e.g. running, board games, film, yoga, life drawing…

. Prism – Sumo’s employee diversity focus group

. Free fruit and drinks in our studios

. Employee Referral Bonus

Lab42 was founded upon a people-first, anti-crunch culture, and we’ve stayed true to those values through all of our growth and success. Now part of the Sumo Digital family of studios, we enjoy all of the benefits and comradery of being part of a large games development organisation, without losing the friendly and flexible working environment that makes Lab42 a great place to work.

As part of Lab42, you’ll be able to work on both original IPs and some of the biggest and best games around – without having to sleep at your desk! Instead, we encourage a harmonious work-life balance that allows you to spend time with family and friends, while still enjoying a career in an exciting industry.

We believe in providing opportunities for internal career progression, and there is plenty of room to grow and fulfill your potential at Lab42. By prioritising the happiness and wellbeing of our staff, we have been joined by many industry veterans, and are proud to be a studio where people chose to stay, develop and grow through their Game Development careers.