Senior External Development Manager
Core
Senior leader owning the end-to-end strategy, operations, and commercial management of external development partnerships for AAA video game projects.
Role type
Senior External Development Manager (Strategy & Operations)
Builds
External development pipelines, vendor management systems, and partnership workflows for game production.
Domain
Video Game Development / Outsourcing Management
Required skills
External development strategy, vendor sourcing and negotiation, budget forecasting, production scheduling, creative quality oversight, risk management, team building, Jira, ShotGrid/Flow, spreadsheet/data fluency
Preferred skills
Experience standing up external development functions from scratch, global partner management, publisher-side production experience, hands-on background in art, animation, audio, engineering, or QA
Technologies
Jira, ShotGrid/Flow, Perforce
Responsibilities
Set external development strategy with studio leadership; design and maintain operational pipelines and vendor management tools; lead RFPs, vendor selection, and contract negotiations; manage external development budget and forecasting; align external schedules with internal production milestones; oversee creative quality and review loops; monitor vendor KPIs and mitigate delivery risks; build and mentor the external development function.
Seniority
Senior, hands-on IC with team building responsibilities
