Development Director
Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.
You will be reporting to the Lead Development Director.
As a Development Director for the Live Service Systems team at Maxis, you will partner with producers, craft directors and peers to ensure the project is delivered to spec, on time, to quality, and within budget. Development Directors will also manage members of the development team, helping them grow their careers and skills within the studio.
Responsibilities:
Collaborate with team members to establish and assign tasks across Engineering, Design, and Experience Design.
Partner with Producers to navigate priority changes while managing scope and quality to deliver on commitments.
Track team progress and provide regular status reporting and capacity plan updates.
Identify risks and lead mitigation across assigned features and systems.
Determine resource needs to meet task and project requirements.
Lead Agile ceremonies including stand‑ups and sprint planning.
Manage direct reports in client and gameplay engineering – guide individual development plans, and conduct regular one-on-ones and performance reviews.
Provide line management to employees across disciplines within the project team.
Coordinate dependencies with internal teams and external partners.
Resolve cross‑discipline issues by partnering with product owners, tech leads, and craft leads.
Define workflows and ensure processes are documented and understood.
Propose creative solutions to team issues across processes, strategy, and communication.
Develop working relationships with the immediate team and those outside of the immediate team that have an effect on the successful completion of the project.
Manage hiring for your team; work with craft directors, subject-matter experts, and the recruiting team to define roles and responsibilities, interview candidates, and deliver equitable offers.
Qualifications:
Minimum of 5+ years of project management or team leadership experience in a software development environment
2+ years of applied experience managing direct reports, driving personal career development and work performance.
2+ years of experience managing the workload for engineers
Bachelor's degree in relevant fields or equivalent professional experience.
An understanding of game development, interdisciplinary dependencies, and associated development risks.
Effective in a collaborative cross-discipline team environment
Experience with different project management methodologies, such as Waterfall and Agile
Candidates with engineering management and video game live service experience will be prioritized.