Senior External Development Manager

The posting, as 31st Union wrote it

WE ARE GAME MAKERS

Who We Are

We are a diverse team of developers driven by a passion for our art, united by our core values and inspired by a culture of inclusivity to build amazing games that thrill players everywhere. We pursue growth and innovation in an environment of safety and trust. Our culture is built on the belief that the more varied voices in our collective will strengthen our team and our games. We are looking for our next teammate who will raise our bar and make us better.

What We Need

We are seeking a senior external development leader to own how 31st Union works with external partners: what we send out, who we send it to, how it comes back, and how good it is when it does. You will set our external development strategy in partnership with the Head of Operations and studio leadership, and then build the thing you designed, including the pipelines, trackers, briefs, review loops, and onboarding paths that our partnerships actually run on.

This role combines strategy ownership with hands-on production ownership . You are the person in the room when we decide what is viable to outsource on our AAA project. You are also the person who writes the tracker, fixes the brief template, and chases the access ticket. You will partner closely with Production to work out how we resource and schedule external work, and with Art Direction and our discipline leads to make sure the feedback reaching a vendor's team is specific, consistent, and actionable. This is a first-in-seat role. There is no external development team to inherit, and building one as our slate grows is part of the job.

What You'll Do

• External Development Strategy: Partner with Head of Operations and studio leadership to set and evolve our external development strategy: which disciplines are viable to send out, which partnership model fits each (asset vendor, embedded team, full co-development), and what we deliberately keep in house. Draft the internal-versus-external business cases behind those calls rather than presenting them as instinct.
• Pipeline & Workflow Ownership: Design, implement, and maintain the tools, systems, workflows, and operational policies that external development runs on in partnership with our domain leaders, including brief and outsourcing pack templates, asset trackers, review protocols, acceptance criteria, onboarding documentation, and the reporting standards behind all of it.
• Partner Sourcing & Commercial Management: Lead the RFP process, vendor outreach, portfolio and evaluation, as well as partner selection. Negotiate scope, capacity, cost, and delivery expectations against project goals and budget. Own the lifecycle of each partnership in collaboration with internal stakeholders: contracts and amendments with Legal and Procurement, invoices, renewals and expirations, offboarding, and onboarding, including driving IT and information security escalations to resolution so partners are productive quickly and safely.
• Budget & Fo

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ncy to build the reporting yourself. Familiarity with Perforce or equivalent source control, and with how assets get integrated into a live engine build.

• Level of Experience: 6 to 8+ years of external development or production experience in the video game industry, with a track record of running external development across multiple projects or a full franchise and real budget ownership.

Bonus Points

• Experience standing up an external development or outsourcing function from scratch.
• Experience with global partners across multiple time zones and cultures, including studios in Eastern Europe, South America, or Asia.
• Familiarity with publisher-side production and cross-studio coordination.
• Hands-on background in one of the disciplines we outsource, whether art, animation, audio, engineering, or QA.

The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $127,500 and $188,700 per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for employees in regular roles may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, provided that temporary or intern roles will not be eligible for many of these payments or benefits. Details of participation in compensation and benefit plans (if applicable) will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.If hired, employee will be in an ~at-will position~ and the company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.