Technical Director

As a Technical Artist you will have the ability to work with clients, artists and programmers to create innovative and inspiring gaming visuals that set new benchmarks.

Third Kind Games is one of the largest independently owned game development studios in the UK, based in Royal Leamington Spa. We also have remote studios in Poland and Spain. Our three studios have been built on the same original spirit and values since our beginning. Founded in 2016 by nine leaders in the industry, with extensive experience in the development of critically acclaimed titles such as Guitar Hero Live and DiRT, we've been growing ever since.

Today we work with some of the biggest names in the games industry such as Blizzard, Amazon, Microsoft and Mythical Games.

Alongside several new high-profile, unannounced projects, our team is also working on our own IP, so TKG is an incredibly exciting place to be right now. We are also setting new benchmarks for creativity in the games industry, driving technical expertise in programming alongside creative innovation.

We are a diverse team of people. We are collaborative, open‑minded creatives who embrace ideas and knowledge from everyone in our team, with the aim of developing and inspiring ourselves, our projects and our games.

Work life balance and flexibility are very important to us and our team. At TKG we offer a place where our team can be their most creative, imaginative and confident selves. We want all of our team to feel valued, appreciated, and free to be who they are  recently received a GOLD Award in Mind Charity's Workplace Wellbeing Index, recognising our dedication to our team's mental health and wellbeing.

• Being responsible for the entire programming team, working across client titles and our own IP within Unreal Engine, Unity, and bespoke engines.
• Directly managing and supporting a small dedicated team of lead programmers across our projects. Your lead programmers shall manage the day‑to‑day activities and workloads of their individual programmers.
• Being responsible for defining all processes and tools used by the team, and the career development of all programming team members.
• Understand our consumer needs and ensure the technical vision is understood by our teams and partners so the game delivers great player satisfaction and maximum enjoyment.
• Being responsible for delivering the overall technical direction of the games by collaborating with and inspiring our teams to achieve this and meet key quality and time targets.
• Leading by example and developing high programming standards with the team.
• Communicating and evangelising your vision to both internal and external stakeholders at all levels to ensure the features and visions for the games are delivered.

• Lead and foster a culture of innovation and collaboration, motivating our cross‑functional Directors and managers to develop unique games with an engaging player experience.
• Understand the technical and production elements to ensure a practical concept is delivered and exceeds the customer expectations.
• Lead and encourage our technical planning sessions, scrums, and retrospectives and help us drive the development of our projects and the team.
• Be naturally inquisitive and keep up to date with the games market, emerging technologies and industry trends and cascade to your team.
• Lead and motivate programmers and designers to prototype, develop, and refine unique features.
• Talk and present enthusiastically about technical ideas, championing their potential.
• Be highly adaptable and a great problem solver.

• 5+ years of industry experience in leading a high‑performing programming team.
• 10+ years of programming experience in C# and/or C++.
• 10+ years of engine experience with Unreal and/or Unity.
• Expert in software design practices including architecture, software design patterns and algorithmic solutions.
• A realistic, pragmatic and commercially aware approach to game development.
• Proven ability in creating and launching AAA games with fun gameplay concepts, new ideas and features that keep players wanting more.

• Other engines such as Lumberyard or bespoke engines.

If you think this is the role for you please send us your CV and an introductory email, which helps us to get to know you better. We aim to respond to your application within 2 working days.

Usually we will conduct a telephone interview, prior to any face to face or virtual interviews.