Role Purpose
As a first party developer and market leader in the motion gaming space with the Kinect Sports franchise, Rare continues to push the boundaries with innovation and new technology development. Together with our award winning products and our drive to have the best development process in the world, we are looking to recruit an experience Principal Program Manager to join our team.
You will provide leadership to a triple A product team, manage other program managers, plan, execute and finalize projects according to strict deadlines and within budget. You will also assist the Studio in continuing to evolve and refine our development processes.
Team/Department Mission
Key Accountabilities and Responsibility
In this role you will
Own delivery of a triple A product, direct and manage project development from beginning to end
Provide leadership to cross-discipline teams
Work with stakeholders to define project scope, goals and deliverables
Track and manage these project deliverables
Define project success criteria and disseminate them to involved parties throughout project life cycle
Drive communication project progress to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear manner
Line manage and mentor other Program Managers on the team
Refine, evolve and enforce our development processes
Plan and track risks for the project, pro-actively developing strategies for addressing these risks
Manage scoping, scheduling, tracking and reporting of production
Collaborate with the discipline managers to provide a detailed plan of resources through product lifecycle
Execute assembly of overall project budget projection
Track actual spend against predictions for the project
Identify and resolve resourcing shortfall or surplus as project unfolds
Work with discipline managers to address resourcing imbalance
Build, develop, and grow any business relationships vital to the success of the project.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Essential Experience
Strong understanding of project management software tools for tracking, scheduling and reporting
Strong, current knowledge of production methodologies and principles
Experience of at least three full game development lifecycle across multiple high-end platforms
Experience of managing continual on-line deliverables and sustain tails through product updates
Proven ability of leading large multi-discipline teams
Successful track record of performance managing direct reports, including managers
Experience of recruitment and selection at various levels within business
Experience of balancing the resource needs of multiple projects
Proven record of working with external partners, developing relationships
Experience of working with outsource partners. A thorough understanding of the pipelines and processes required to achieve a successful, efficient production cycle in this area
An understanding of basic revenue models and P&L
Personal Attributes/Interpersonal Skills
An enthusiastic, positive and team oriented attitude
Strong leadership skills, challenges others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor
Good presentation skills
Authoritative and confident; must be able to constructively hold their own against senior voices
Able to communicate effectively with varied personality types
Diplomatic handling of disputes and excellent negotiation skills
An eye for sources of risk
Ability to manage and develop these skills in others
