Lead Professional Services Engineer




Location: 
San Francisco

We at Havok are very proud of who we are and what we do. We offer a unique opportunity to work alongside talented colleagues in a challenging role with real job satisfaction.

Havok engineering has been at the cutting edge of innovation in game development for over a decade. We work cross platform, mainly on AAA titles, with top clients such as EA, Sony, Activision, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Bungie, Guerrilla, and DICE. We have a unique environment made up of talented, small, stable teams. We provide each of our engineers with an opportunity to make a real impact on our environment, our business and the direction of our industry standard products.

We have a supportive environment where you will have career, travel and research opportunities. We operate in high spec, relaxed offices in some of the most exciting cities around the world. Our salaries are competitive and we provide excellent benefit and relocation packages. We hire people based on their talent and potential to contribute so if you think you have what it takes we want to hear from you.

Development in Havok:

  • You will work in small focussed teams of highly motivated and talented developers
  • You will be part of a professional stable development environment that is not subject to the long periods of crunch time typically associated with game development
  • Each developer will be expected to take responsibility for, and strongly influence the products they develop and the customers they work with at Havok
  • You will have the opportunity to work on and gain experience with the expanding range of hardware platforms we support
  • You will have the opportunity to work with some of the best games teams in the industry

Role Objectives

  • Identify, develop and deliver world-class consulting services that provide the highest possible levels of customer satisfaction
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with key members of game teams in the industry
  • Build an understanding of how Havok products can be best leveraged in modern game development, providing reasoned feedback to Havok Product Management and Development on both customer usage of Havok products and general industry trends

Key Responsibilities

  • Manage and deliver assigned professional service engagements from specification and negotiation through to final delivery
  • Manage customer expectations and independently deliver complete solutions in high pressure situations
  • Ensure satisfaction at the end of any engagement, Project professionalism, confidence and an ability to deliver in all interactions with customers
  • Hold responsibility for developing new services offerings, reducing the cost of providing delivery
  • Help identify and attract new professional services talent
  • Maintain solid understanding of key customer needs, industry trends, technologies and techniques as well as an in-depth knowledge of Havok’s product line and how it is used by customers in order to provide feedback and identify new professional services opportunities
  • Identify, qualify and provide high level ROI arguments for potential services engagements
  • Maintain an understanding of the commercial challenges of game production

Generic Goals

  • Become recognized as an expert on Havok and other game technologies within the industry
  • Contribute to the overall drive and motivation of the office by leading through example. Be seen as committed, motivated, driven, credible and resilient
  • Build and maintain a network of key industry resources to aid in team growth and to provide insight as necessary
  • Be flexible and willing to travel to customer sites at short notice for extended periods of time

Required Skills and Experience

  • Exceptional C++ skills and experience
  • Broad knowledge of all facets the games industry (production, design, art / animation, technologies (AI, networking, graphics, audio, etc.)
  • Multi-platform development and low level optimization experience
  • Very strong communication skills with a proven ability to deliver under pressure
  • Has managed a team of 4 or more engineers when developing software for the games industry
  • 8+ years of experience in software development with at least 3 in games

Valuable Personal Qualities and Work Dynamics

  • A passion for cutting-edge game development
  • An ability to quickly integrate socially into a team and gain the trust of new associates
  • Ability to maintain balance and professionalism under pressure and to hit tight deadlines
  • Strong self-motivation, positive attitude and a strong work ethic
  • Games middleware development experience
  • Experience with managing or delivering consultancy work both on a deliverables and time and materials basis
  • Experience in contributing directly to and reviewing game production schedules
  • Experience with managing budgets
  • Experience working with multiple languages
  • Experience with traveling and representing work internationally