Development Director - NHL

EA SPORTS; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 122,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

3 weeks vacation

Sick days 10

EI/QPIP top-up

Health and dental

Life insurance

Retirement plan

Job summary

EA SPORTS Vancouver is seeking a Development Director to lead end-to-end delivery of complex, technically driven programs within the NHL franchise and AI initiatives. Hybr id role based in Vancouver, reporting to the Lead Development Director for NHL, coordinating cross-functional teams across engineering, product, and analytics to ensure timely, high-quality outcomes.

You will define roadmaps, drive risk management, and champion agile/hybrid delivery practices while mentoring staff and raising

Qualifications

• 6+ years of project management experience with a focus on highly technical projects and AI efficiencies.
• 3+ years of team leadership including direct people management and career development of technical staff.
• Experience leading complex, multi-workstream projects from start to finish.
• Familiarity with AI/ML development lifecycles and delivery challenges of intelligent systems.
• Proficiency with Agile and hybrid project management methodologies.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and ability to translate technical complexity for non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of large-scale technical projects including AI capability and efficiency.
• Provide strong career management to direct reports, identifying growth opportunities and setting expectations.
• Define and maintain technical project roadmaps, translating engineering requirements into milestones and plans.
• Drive sprint planning processes, ensuring adherence to agile practices while improving planning rigor.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate technical and project risks; remove blockers and escalate when needed.
• Partner with engineering leads and AI/ML teams to ensure feasibility and sound design decisions.
• Establish and track KPIs and delivery metrics; surface progress and risks to senior stakeholders.
• Anticipate bottlenecks and promote efficient decision-making across teams.
• Promote collaboration and continuous improvement across teams you oversee.
• Collaborate with Product and Technical leads to define and assign sprint tasks from quarterly goals.

Skills

Project management

Team leadership

AI/ML lifecycle

Agile methodologies

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems

Tools

Jira

Jaas

Job description

Description & Requirements

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

Description & Requirements

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports video games, including Madden NFL football, EA Sports FC, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, and EA SPORTS UFC.

EA SPORTS NHL franchise is founded on passion and new ideas. Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, the team is composed of remarkable talent on a mission to accomplish on-ice experiences that connect gamers around the world through play. If you're a creative pioneer with experience with your craft, you will have the chance to turn a job into something you love.

We are looking for a Development Director to lead the delivery of complex, highly technical programs across one of our game development teams while also supporting tool development for the wider organization. This role is hybrid and located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Reporting to the Lead Development Director for NHL, you'll also collaborate with operational and project management individuals to ensure consistency and smooth daily execution.

The Challenge Ahead

The Development Director (DD) is responsible for driving the delivery of complex, highly technical projects from creation to completion. You will bring deep technical project management expertise and lead cross-functional teams through the full lifecycle of sophisticated data and AI-driven programs. In this role, you will spearhead a portfolio of cutting-edge capabilities including emerging AI capabilities. They will fundamentally shape how our organization operates efficiently at scale.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of large-scale technical projects including AI capability and efficiency. Own scope, schedule, budget, and quality from kickoff through release.
• Provide strong career management to direct reports, identifying growth opportunities, setting clear expectations, and actively developing individuals toward their full potential.
• Define and maintain technical project roadmaps, translating complex engineering requirements into clear milestones, dependencies, and delivery plans.
• Drive sprint planning processes, ensuring the team adheres to Waterfall principles while continuously improving planning rigor and execution discipline.
• Identify, assess, and proactively mitigate technical and project risks, removing blockers, resolving ambiguities, and escalating where appropriate.
• Partner with engineering leads and AI/ML teams to ensure technical feasibility, sound design decisions, and alignment with organizational strategy.
• Establish and track clear KPIs and delivery metrics, surfacing progress, variances, and risks to senior stakeholders.
• Anticipate bottlenecks, provide management escalation, project prioritization, make tradeoffs, balance the needs versus technical constraints, and promote initial partner deployments.
• Promote a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement across the teams you oversee.
• Collaborate with Product and Technical leads to define and assign sprint tasks from quarterly goals, using Jira/Jaas to maintain visibility and accountability.

Your Qualifications

• 6+ years of project management experience, with a strong focus on highly technical projects and AI efficiencies. 3+ years of team leadership experience, including direct people management and career development of technical staff.
• Experience leading complex, multi-workstream projects from start to finish.
• Familiarity with AI/ML development lifecycles and the unique delivery challenges of building intelligent systems.
• Proficiency with Agile and hybrid project management methodologies, with experience facilitating sprint planning, retrospectives, and quarterly goal-setting.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, able to translate technical complexity for non-technical audiences and vice versa.
• University degree (Bachelor's) in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience.

Pay Transparency - North America

Compensation And Benefits

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs).

PAY RANGES

• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria) *$122,300 - $170,700 CAD

Pay is just one part of the overall compensation at EA.

For Canada, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and other incentive programs.

About Electronic Arts

We’re proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. From leadership that brings out your potential, to creating space for learning and experimenting, we empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth.

We adopt a holistic approach to our benefits programs, emphasizing physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life. Our packages are tailored to meet local needs and may include healthcare coverage, mental well-being support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leaves, complimentary games, and more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer.

All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.