Hybrid Development Director: Cross-Functional Games

EA SPORTS; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 141,400 - 204,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Employee benefits

Job summary

EA SPORTS in Vancouver is seeking a Development Director to lead planning and execution of complex cross-functional development efforts, partnering with Production, Design, Engineering, and QA to deliver high-quality player experiences on time and within budget.

Reporting to the Lead Development Director, you will drive capacity planning, staffing, and process improvements, while mentoring teams and shaping how development happens with emerging technologies including AI.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience leading complex software or game development projects.
• 5+ years of people leadership in a collaborative development environment.
• Proven experience leading large cross-functional teams through multiple phases of product development.
• Strong project management skills, including roadmap planning, scheduling, capacity planning, dependency management, and risk mitigation.
• Experience balancing scope, quality, schedule, and budget to successfully deliver complex projects.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority and build alignment across multiple disciplines and stakeholder groups.
• Experience driving operational improvements and implementing scalable development processes.
• Experience using modern AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Gemini, Claude, or similar) to improve productivity, planning, communication, or problem solving, with an interest in expanding AI capabilities and applying them to improve quality, operational excellence, and team effectiveness.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills with the ability to operate effectively at both strategic and execution levels.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience working with Agile development methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning, execution and delivery of complex cross-functional development efforts, ensuring delivery against quality, scope, schedule, and budget objectives.
• Partner with Production, Design, Engineering, QV, and other disciplines to establish delivery plans, align priorities, and drive successful execution.
• Develop and maintain integrated project plans, balancing dependencies, milestones, and resource allocation across multiple teams.
• Drive capacity planning and staffing strategies by identifying resource needs, balancing workloads, and partnering with leadership on hiring and organizational planning.
• Proactively identify delivery risks, remove blockers, and implement mitigation strategies to maintain project health and predictability.
• Facilitate alignment across teams, proactively resolve cross-functional challenges, and influence decisions across disciplines to enable successful delivery.
• Champion operational excellence by improving development processes, planning practices, operating rhythms, and execution frameworks that increase efficiency and predictability.
• Champion the adoption of emerging technologies, including AI, to improve planning, communication, operational efficiency and development workflows while helping teams successfully adopt new ways of working.
• Lead, coach and develop high-performing teams through coaching, performance management, feedback, career development, and hiring.
• Manage project budgets, forecasts, and operational planning in partnership with Production and leadership.
• Mentor peers and contribute to the evolution of development management best practices across the studio.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Roadmap planning

Agile methodologies

Resource planning

Risk mitigation

Influence skills

AI in development

Communication

Budget management

Leadership

Team building

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Job description

EA SPORTS in Vancouver is seeking a Development Director to lead planning and execution of complex cross-functional development efforts, partnering with Production, Design, Engineering, and QA to deliver high-quality player experiences on time and within budget.

Reporting to the Lead Development Director, you will drive capacity planning, staffing, and process improvements, while mentoring teams and shaping how development happens with emerging technologies including AI.