Kwalee is one of the world’s leading multiplatform game publishers and developers, with well over 750 million downloads worldwide for mobile hits such as Draw It, Teacher Simulator, Let’s Be Cops 3D, Airport Security and Makeover Studio 3D. Alongside this, we also have a growing PC and Console team of incredible pedigree that is on the hunt for great new titles to join TENS!, Eternal Hope, Die by the Blade and Scathe.
We have a team of talented people collaborating daily between our studios in Leamington Spa, Bangalore and Beijing, or on a remote basis from Turkey, Brazil, the Philippines and many more places, and we’ve recently acquired our first external studio, TicTales which is based in France. We have a truly global team making games for a global audience. And it’s paying off: Kwalee has been recognised with the Best Large Studio and Best Leadership awards from TIGA (The Independent Game Developers’ Association) and our games have been downloaded in every country on earth!
Founded in 2011 by David Darling CBE, a key architect of the UK games industry who previously co-founded and led Codemasters for many years, our team also includes legends such as Andrew Graham (creator of Micro Machines series) and Jason Falcus (programmer of classics including NBA Jam) alongside a growing and diverse team of global gaming experts. Everyone contributes creatively to Kwalee’s success, with all employees eligible to pitch their own game ideas on Creative Wednesdays, and we’re proud to have built our success on this inclusive principle. Could your idea be the next global hit?
What’s the job?
As a Lead Game Programmer you’ll own the technical decisions for the games you work on ensuring they deliver on the game quality, technical excellence and can be projects that, when successful, live on for many years in a flexible and extensible way as we support them through live operations.
You can either work remotely, in our Leamington office or in our Bangalore office surrounded by a great bunch of people!
What you tell your friends you do
“I use my technical skills to turn dreams into reality”
What you will really be doing
Lead and manage the programming team to bring the game vision to life through feature implementation and technical support for other disciplines
Ensure communication within the Tech teams at Kwalee to keep the game compatible with our internal standards and central technologies.
Help to plan and implement deliverables required for the project requiring cross functional collaboration as Art, Design, Production and other depts work with development.
Build and manage a roadmap of the technical deliveries for a game including identifying areas where we should invest time for R&D or Tech Debt
Lead and actively raise the competencies of the engineering team through close collaboration, direction and mentorship
How you will be doing this
You’ll be part of an agile, multidisciplinary and creative team and work closely with them to ensure the best results.
You'll think creatively and be motivated by challenges and constantly striving for the best.
You’ll work with cutting edge technology, if you need software or hardware to get the job done efficiently, you can get it.
Team
Our talented team is our signature. We have a highly creative atmosphere with more than 150 staff where you’ll have the opportunity to contribute daily to important decisions. You’ll work within an extremely experienced, passionate and diverse team, including David Darling and the creator of the Micro Machines video games.
Skills and requirements
At least 6 years of experience in game development with C# and Unity with 1 project shipping in a leading or senior role and able to mentor others during the development of a project.
Strong software architecture skills and the ability to ensure a smooth handover between client and server development.
Experience developing on mobile with iOS and Android, the build pipelines associated with each and the technical requirements that come with releasing games on these platforms.
Able to evaluate a design for a game or its features and create a plan for how you’d deliver this to meet the expected end result, using techniques such as rapid prototyping, information architecture diagrams or other techniques to ensure its doing what it needs to do.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to use these to ensure there are no dark corners within the team where something is unclear
Experience with source control such as SVN, Git or Perforce
RESTful experience and experience integrating 3rd party APIs.
Positive attitude, self driven and able to work alone or as part of a team.
Desirable
Graphics and shader experience.
Native Coding experience
We offer
We want everyone involved in our games to share our success, that’s why we have a generous team profit sharing scheme from day 1 of employment
In addition to a competitive salary we also offer private medical cover and life assurance
Creative Wednesdays! (Pitch and make your own games every Wednesday)
20 days of paid holidays plus bank holidays
Hybrid model available depending on the department and the role
Relocation support available
Great work-life balance with flexible working hours
Quarterly team building days - work hard, play hard!
Monthly employee awards
Free snacks, fruit and drinks
Our philosophy
We firmly believe in creativity and innovation and that a fundamental requirement for a successful and happy company is having the right mix of individuals. With the right people in the right environment anything and everything is possible.
Kwalee makes games to bring people, their stories, and their interests together. As an employer, we’re dedicated to making sure that everyone can thrive within our team by welcoming and supporting people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances. With the inclusion of diverse voices in our teams, we bring plenty to the table that’s fresh, fun and exciting; it makes for a better environment and helps us to create better games for everyone! This is how we move forward as a company – because these voices are the difference that make all the difference.
