Technical Director (Gamedev)

TL;DR

Technical Director (Gamedev): Technical leadership for co-development, outsourcing, new IP, ports, remasters and remakes with an accent on project infrastructure setup, high-level technical planning, and risk management. Focus on establishing build pipelines, CI/CD, coding standards, tech stack decisions, and ensuring engineering quality through reviews and sign-offs.

Location: Hybrid basis at UK studio sites (Daresbury or Newcastle): 3 days per week in the studio (Wednesday, Thursday and one other day of choice)

Company

Studio part of Keywords Studios Group, delivering co-development services to AAA clients like EA, Playground Games on projects including EA SPORTS FC, Hogwarts Legacy, and The Witcher 3.

What you will do

• Lead technical aspects of co-dev, outsourcing, new IP, ports, remasters/remakes from kick-off to completion.
• Set up project infrastructure including build pipelines, CI/CD, and coding standards.
• Handle high-level technical planning, decisions, delegation, and risk management.
• Evaluate and select software/tech stacks for projects.
• Ensure engineering quality via leadership, standards, TDD reviews, and code sign-offs.
• Communicate technically with teams, stakeholders, clients; represent studio capabilities; share knowledge and identify new tools.

Requirements

• 5+ years experience with proven released projects in senior design or equivalent position
• Strong hands-on experience in a major modern engine (e.g. UE5 blueprints)
• Demonstrable knowledge of broad design work and feature ownership across multiple genres
• Excellent written/verbal communication and presentation skills
• Ability to organize work for self and team, adapt to changes, manage time
• Team player with passion for videogames and positive attitude

Nice to have

• Experience with Unreal or Unity
• Multiple programming languages
• Project management frameworks
• Ports, remasters, remakes
• Low-level console development
• Co-development or outsourcing
• Memory/performance optimizations
• Rendering experience

Culture & Benefits

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays + extra for service; flexible hours; no-crunch policy
• Private medical insurance (BUPA including dental); pension; income protection; discretionary bonus
• Eye care, tech/bike/console schemes, free parking, company socials, monthly lunches, events
• Supportive environment with mentoring, breakout areas, complimentary snacks
• Awarded ‘Best Places to Work’ multiple times; ‘Best Creative Service Provider’