Lead Game Developer

Location: St. Louis, MO

The Pixel Press platform offers engaging, interactive storytelling tools that enables users of all ages to turn drawings into video games.

Located in St. Louis and reporting to the Pixel Press Chief Operating Officer, the Lead Game Developer is a full-time position that participates in all phases of the product lifecycle and translates business vision into our products’ features and functionality. Working closely with the COO, OCR Engineer and Community Infrastructure developer, the Lead Game Developer will create workflows and implement methodology to keep an iterative, lively release schedule intact as well as lead the charge in all hands-on game development utilizing Unity3d to be deployed to the iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Linux platforms.

Primary Responsibilities

  • Collaborates effectively with development team as well as operating team
  • Provides technical leadership and assumes overall accountability for a successful implementation phase on all feature releases and builds
  • Builds 2D game engines in Unity3D
  • Utilize and consume the Pixel Press OCR data output and turn it into theme-able, testable,  playable levels
  • Build out platformer mechanics that can be saved as packaged data sets to be uploaded to the community
  • Build all UI views such as splash screens, credits, community pages, leaderboards, etc…

Communication Responsibilities

  • Delivers engaging, informative and well-organized presentations, from time to time it may be necessary to be a part of partner and/or investor discussions
  • Resolves and/or escalates issues in a timely fashion
  • Understands how to tactfully communicate difficult/sensitive information (is open, communicative and doesn’t shy from saying what needs to be said)
  • Has a startup mentality and wants to help garner that type of environment

Other Responsibilities

  • Does not have a problem with Pair Programming and as a Lead will be expected to help us in our partnership with educational institutions such as http://launchcodestl.com
  • Ensures we are proactive in our pursuit of new solutions and innovation within our technology (does not discriminate against languages and frameworks, right tool for the right job)
  • Advances the company’s thought leadership, specifically around gaming technologies and OCR data consumption practices via the Pixel Press blog, social media outlets and industry events and conferences

At Pixel Press We…

  • Put family first but do not shy away from long hours when it is needed
  • Love games and gaming culture
  • Stay up on popular trends and competitive markets, while simultaneously strive to define innovation
  • Are open to new platforms and applications and have the ability to maneuver quickly within the field
  • Work in our company office in St. Louis, MO
  • Demonstrate accountability; own outcomes and results, prioritizes tasks, and consistently strive to meet deadlines
  • We like to have fun and do not tolerate rudeness, cynicism or an uncomfortable work environment

Minimum Requirements

  • A minimum of five years of experience in game development is required (or just show us that you rock)
  • Previous work in Unity is required, we’ll want to see examples
  • Experience building and distributing to multiple platforms (PC, Mac, Mobile, Console)
  • Experience utilizing web API data is a must
  • Insanely curious and energetic about the future of mobile and web gaming
  • Equally as interested in the topic of User Generated Content and World Builders in gaming
  • Comfortable wearing many hats and jumping into something new from time to time

Additional Qualifications

  • Thrives on learning and learns quickly. Dedicated to self-improvement and professional development. Takes advantage of various resources to self-educate
  • Self starter, ability to work with minimal supervision. Equally skilled at working collaboratively in a team-oriented environment
  • Excellent problem solving skills. Curious and adept at researching project-related issues and challenges
  • Lives by the “right tool for the right job” mentality when it comes to programming and development
  • Previous experience in building platformer games is plus
  • Experience building UI views such as community/leaderboard pages in-game

Travel Requirements

Travel will be required very rarely but encouraged from time to time for team-building events including gaming and technology conferences. A willingness to relocate, should the company require it, is a plus.

If you are interested in this please contact us at jobs@projectpixelpress.com.