Development Director- EA SPORTS- Football
at EA
Orlando, Florida
ENTERTAINING IS OUR PASSION
EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, global videogame competitions and breakthrough digital experiences. EA SPORTS delivers personal access to the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports simulation videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA JAM basketball, NCAA® Football, Fight Night boxing, EA SPORTS MMA, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, and EA SPORTS Active. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.
The Project Manager (PM), also called Development Director (DD) at EA, is a critical role and responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of a game, on time and within budget. Prior to production they carry out a detailed analysis of the game design and work out the project ‘milestones’ (specific targets that have to be met by certain dates), agreeing upon these with the key technical and creative managers, such as the Game Designer, Art Director and Lead Programmer. The PM/DD then works out a schedule for the project and decides the personnel and equipment needed. They control the financial resources and negotiate all contracts with suppliers and contractors. Once development is underway, the PM/DD monitors the team’s progress against the schedule. They must be able to prioritize when production deadlines are a concern, manage risks, and plan for contingencies. Finally, the PM / DD is responsible for all people management on the team and entasked with motivating and developing all staff under their management and develop their career.
Role Overview
An EA Development Director Level I helps provide departmental leadership. Key responsibilities include: responsibility for establishing an overall project schedule based on the individual task estimates; determine the resource requirements to meet the task requirements; validate task duration and determine task dependencies; establish a budget for each task, determine task dependencies, and assign tasks to team resources as appropriate; establish test plans / success criteria for each task; managing the change request process; decomposing change requests into component tasks, and of estimating the impact of each change request on project schedule, budget, and resources; communicating to project stakeholders the impact of each requested change, and produce a work breakdown structure from a design document; provides inspiring leadership by proactively meeting or communicating with employees individually to monitor and prevent potential problems or concerns; reward and recognize performance and provides coaching on performance related issues; monitors workload and recognizes extra effort with praise and discretionary rewards; participates in development of retention programs; ensures adequate equipment, tools and support are provided for team members; works with team members to develop and pursue a career action plan and identifies potential growth opportunities; provides team members with information on self-study, courses and training opportunities; participates in employees performance evaluations; participate in the recruitment of new team members; reviewing resumes, interviewing and assessing candidates; enhances personal understanding of the production process and actively offers input; provides input for departmental planning (i.e. resource planning, cost estimates etc.); can facilitate process improvements across departments; shows comfort in moving beyond micro-management of junior staff and directs delegated responsibility effectively.
What skills does EA look for??
An EA Development Director I is expected to possess 5+ years of software development experience; 4 years Project Management experience; 3 years of leadership experience (line management); strong negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution skills; effective communication skills across all levels of an organization. Educational background should include a Degree in Computer Science or equivalent; PMP Certification an asset.
EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, global videogame competitions and breakthrough digital experiences. EA SPORTS delivers personal access to the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports simulation videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA JAM basketball, NCAA® Football, Fight Night boxing, EA SPORTS MMA, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, and EA SPORTS Active. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.
The Project Manager (PM), also called Development Director (DD) at EA, is a critical role and responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of a game, on time and within budget. Prior to production they carry out a detailed analysis of the game design and work out the project ‘milestones’ (specific targets that have to be met by certain dates), agreeing upon these with the key technical and creative managers, such as the Game Designer, Art Director and Lead Programmer. The PM/DD then works out a schedule for the project and decides the personnel and equipment needed. They control the financial resources and negotiate all contracts with suppliers and contractors. Once development is underway, the PM/DD monitors the team’s progress against the schedule. They must be able to prioritize when production deadlines are a concern, manage risks, and plan for contingencies. Finally, the PM / DD is responsible for all people management on the team and entasked with motivating and developing all staff under their management and develop their career.
Role Overview
An EA Development Director Level I helps provide departmental leadership. Key responsibilities include: responsibility for establishing an overall project schedule based on the individual task estimates; determine the resource requirements to meet the task requirements; validate task duration and determine task dependencies; establish a budget for each task, determine task dependencies, and assign tasks to team resources as appropriate; establish test plans / success criteria for each task; managing the change request process; decomposing change requests into component tasks, and of estimating the impact of each change request on project schedule, budget, and resources; communicating to project stakeholders the impact of each requested change, and produce a work breakdown structure from a design document; provides inspiring leadership by proactively meeting or communicating with employees individually to monitor and prevent potential problems or concerns; reward and recognize performance and provides coaching on performance related issues; monitors workload and recognizes extra effort with praise and discretionary rewards; participates in development of retention programs; ensures adequate equipment, tools and support are provided for team members; works with team members to develop and pursue a career action plan and identifies potential growth opportunities; provides team members with information on self-study, courses and training opportunities; participates in employees performance evaluations; participate in the recruitment of new team members; reviewing resumes, interviewing and assessing candidates; enhances personal understanding of the production process and actively offers input; provides input for departmental planning (i.e. resource planning, cost estimates etc.); can facilitate process improvements across departments; shows comfort in moving beyond micro-management of junior staff and directs delegated responsibility effectively.
What skills does EA look for??
An EA Development Director I is expected to possess 5+ years of software development experience; 4 years Project Management experience; 3 years of leadership experience (line management); strong negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution skills; effective communication skills across all levels of an organization. Educational background should include a Degree in Computer Science or equivalent; PMP Certification an asset.