Development Director

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play.

As a Development Director (DD) at Maxis, you are the ultimate driver of project execution, serving as both a strategic project manager and a supportive people manager. You are the engine that translates high-level creative vision into concrete, playable reality.

Responsibilities:

• Drive Project Delivery & Goals: Partner with Producers and Craft Leaders to ensure work meets strict scope, timeline, and quality targets without setting priorities yourself.
• Define Project Process & Strategy: Design and manage cross-discipline workflows, development strategy, and tool integrations (Jira, Miro, Airtable) to optimize team velocity.
• Lead as a Servant Leader: Focus on removing operational blockers, framing trade-offs, and equipping the team with clarity and resources rather than commanding.
• Enable Data-Driven Decisions: Surface project risks, dependencies, capacity bottlenecks, and ripple effects, presenting actionable scenarios and solutions to leadership.
• Master Multi-Level Planning: Own the tactical (mid-level roadmaps, milestone definitions) and execution-level planning (sprints, task tracking) to align cross-functional teams.
• Tracking & Reporting: Oversee weekly capacity/scope tracking and bi-weekly milestone reporting (burndowns, roadmaps) to predict issues early and avoid end-of-cycle surprises.
• Cultivate Follow-Through & Culture: Foster a team mindset of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement while following through on commitments to guarantee completion.
• Facilitate High-Impact Daily Operations: Run structured stand-ups, maintain task discipline, clear individual blockages, and publish transparent status updates.

Qualifications:

• Game Production & Project Management Expertise: Deep background in project management methodologies (Agile, Sprint Planning, Milestones) within game development or tech.
• Cross-Discipline Systems Thinking: Strong understanding of craft-specific workflows (Design, Engineering, Art) to build effective overall project processes.
• Servant Leadership Mindset: Demonstrated ability to build team autonomy, mentor talent, and measure success through team growth and delivery.
• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills: Exceptional skill in leveraging tracking data (burndowns, velocity, capacity) to build visual scenarios and risk-mitigation plans.
• Mastery of Project Management Tooling: Hands-on proficiency with industry tools (Jira, Miro, Airtable, Google Sheets) for tracking, roadmapping, and reporting.
• You love videogames; knowledge of The Sims is a welcome plus!