Technical Lead

 
 

We are looking for a Technical Lead on THE LONG DARK to help shepherd WINTERMUTE to its conclusion and support the ongoing development of SURVIVAL MODE and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. In this role, you will lead a team of programmers to implement gameplay features and tools for other disciplines to make it easy for them to achieve the creative vision for the game. You’ll be working with the Technical Programming Director to identify and drive implementation of new technologies that allow us to bring our games to as many players as possible.

Technical Leads at Hinterland carry a range of production, technical, and leadership responsibilities. You need to be comfortable interacting with developers of all disciplines, guiding and organizing the efforts of a team of programmers across multiple areas, and working in collaboration with other leads to deliver on a backlog of major feature and content areas. As such, we need a technical lead who is committed to the planning process, is comfortable managing a team, and also isn’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and help out with developing features as necessary. The ability to adapt to changing conditions is crucial as Technical Leads are looked to by everyone on the project to provide guidance and leadership if production on the game starts running into problems.

You need to have excellent communication skills to be able to effectively distill technical information into non-technical terms and well-defined tasks as you’ll be spending much of your time working closely with a cross-discipline project leads group. This requires the ability to take early feature concepts and analyze potential risks with them while providing a high-level overview of tasks and estimates that can be used for planning out multiple future milestones.

In addition to these qualifications, the ideal candidate will have experience supporting a game through multiple post-launch updates. We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates that have worked at either mid- to large-sized triple-A studios or triple-I “indies”.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES:

You will lead the programming team on the project from both a technical and people management standpoint. This involves:

  • Being the primary point of contact for any questions about implementation details or issues in the game.

  • Removing any roadblocks or other issues that programmers on the team run into that prevents them from being as efficient as they could be.

  • Triaging issues and delegating tasks to ensure that the workload is manageable for each member of the programming team but is also challenging enough for them to be growing as developers.

  • Meeting regularly with each member of your team to ensure that they are meeting the studio’s expectations for their role and that their growth lines up with their professional goals.

  • Work closely with the animation, art, audio, design and test leads to plan updates and track progress of the implementation of gameplay features and tools. This involves doing high-level reviews of early feature designs and providing constructive feedback about the technical feasibility. You’ll also need to give reasonable early estimates for these features to assist in planning out future updates.

  • Work closely with the animation, art, audio and design teams to plan and iterate on gameplay features and tools that allow them to effortlessly apply their vision for our games.

  • Work with the Launch Team to coordinate and support releases for the project.

  • Manage the Perforce streams for the project.

YOUR QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Previous experience leading programming teams.

  • Several years of experience working on multi-platform games.

  • Experience shipping titles, with special preference given to those who have been involved with long-running “games as a service” titles.

  • Extensive hands-on game development experience in a multi-platform environment.

  • Proficient with C# or C++.

  • Comfortable working within a large codebase.

  • Excellent communication skills.

  • Highly organized and self-motivated.

Salary Range: $110,000 - 130,500 CAD annually

Hinterland is an equal employer and as a remote-first organization, we hire the best talent globally. To ensure we are equitable and fair, the salary range listed above is provided as a gauge and is indexed specifically to candidates based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where our studio is headquartered. This range represents multiple skill levels, as we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply with us, acknowledging that cultural disparities historically disadvantage non-white and non-male applicants. The range is generated based on research using a combination of publicly and privately available data. We take a holistic approach to compensation and consider factors such as skills, experience, and cost of living, to ensure we pay fairly and equitably within our team. This means we may modify the range based on the candidate's location. In addition to an annual salary, we have no probationary period, and all employees receive our health & wellness benefits package on their first day.

 
 

ABOUT HINTERLAND

In an industry not known for taking care of its people, Hinterland strives to be different. We believe that the diversity, points of view, experience, and individual backgrounds of our team members contribute to a rich mosaic that helps us create better experiences, and helps those experiences reach a wider audience. 

Hinterland is an equal-opportunity employer. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply for our positions, regardless of ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation or identity, or religious affiliation. We value seniority and experience for our senior and leadership roles, but are always looking for ways to bring diverse viewpoints and experiences from across the spectrum of entertainment and technology.

We embrace a flexible working environment that focuses on high-autonomy balanced against high personal accountability. All our positions are remote-first, focused on finding the best fit for culture and talent. This remote-first flexibility is balanced with a physical studio in Vancouver, which is optionally available (COVID-permitting) to anyone on the team who wants to use it. We strengthen our team bond through offsite retreats, where we focus on creating memories together. We feel this balance of remote and in-person opportunities creates the strongest alloy for our culture.

We encourage everyone on the team to find balance between work and life, and never ask anyone to compromise one for the other. We are a No Crunch studio. We have high expectations of the level of commitment and the quality of the work done by our team, and trust everyone to manage their own schedule and workload. We offer a generous bundle of benefits and vacation time, and strongly encourage our team members to enjoy the 5+ weeks of paid time off we offer annually. We are a family-first studio and offer a range of tools to support our team and their growing families. 

For more information about how we work, we encourage you to read this description of our Culture, written by our Founder.