Creative Director – External Development

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Canada.

📋 Description

• Collaborate with the Executive Producer and Technical Director to lead and oversee a portfolio of projects within the External Development division.

• Assist in establishing, communicating, and maintaining creative objectives and the appropriate quality standards across ports, remasters, live service initiatives, and co-development projects.

• Drive creative and product due diligence for new partnership opportunities by evaluating gameplay, presentation, user experience, modernization prospects, production complexity, and quality expectations to inform proposals, staffing strategies, and project planning.

• Assess project roadmaps, feature plans, and significant initiatives to ensure teams are pursuing the highest-value opportunities while adhering to schedule and budget limitations.

• Collaborate with project leadership teams to identify risks, reveal planning gaps, and support mitigation strategies.

• Assist teams in breaking down complex creative, gameplay, UX, technical, and production challenges into clear initiatives, ownership structures, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.

• Work alongside Design, Art, UI/UX, Engineering, Production, and Technical Art teams to align quality expectations and delivery strategies.

• Support teams in evaluating trade-offs between quality, scope, schedule, cost, and player value.

• Facilitate alignment among clients, project leadership, and development teams on priorities, scope, quality expectations, and execution plans.

• Engage in project reviews, milestone planning, roadmap discussions, and quality assessments across the business unit.

• Assist in establishing scalable frameworks, planning methodologies, and best practices that enhance consistency across projects.

• Provide support to project leaders and multidisciplinary teams by offering guidance on prioritization, initiative structuring, quality evaluation, and solution development.

• Clearly communicate recommendations, risks, dependencies, and strategic considerations to both internal and external stakeholders.

• Contribute to the long-term growth and maturity of the business unit through leadership, mentorship, and continuous improvement efforts.

⛳️ Requirements

• Substantial experience leading product, creative, design, or development teams in commercial game development, with a proven track record of influencing project direction and delivery.

• Experience in shipping multiple titles and an understanding of the dynamics involved in balancing player experience, quality, scope, schedule, and budget.

• Familiarity with working alongside external publishing partners or within co-development and partner-led production environments.

• Strong product judgment, capable of evaluating competing creative and development priorities and providing pragmatic recommendations that maximize both player and business value.

• Proficient in collaborating effectively across Design, Art, UI/UX, Engineering, Production, and QA, fostering alignment between disciplines with differing priorities.

• Ability to analyze complex project challenges, identify root causes, and aid teams in developing clear, actionable solutions.

• Experience reviewing roadmaps, production plans, and feature proposals, possessing the confidence to challenge assumptions and enhance project direction.

• Proficient in presenting recommendations and influencing decision-making processes with project leadership, studio leadership, and partners.

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, coupled with a collaborative leadership style that empowers teams to succeed rather than relying solely on authority.

• A strong passion for mentoring project leaders, enhancing development practices, and elevating the overall quality and maturity of multidisciplinary teams.

• Comfortable operating at both strategic and project leadership levels, contributing to business unit planning while supporting projects through daily decision-making.

🏝️ Benefits

• Flexible work arrangements