Engineering Manager - Unity Game Development

Sago Mini is an award-winning publisher of preschool apps and toys worldwide. We are supported by a team of artists, designers, developers, product managers, thinkers, and doers devoted to play. With over 100 million downloads, three subscription services, and 40+ apps, Sago Mini brings thoughtful design to life for kids and parents worldwide.

About the Role

The Sago Mini team is hiring an Engineering Manager with expertise in gameplay development to take on people management responsibilities for a group of Unity Gameplay Developers. Your direct reports will work in multidisciplinary teams to create games that encourage exploration, imagination and discovery, and you'll be there to support them along the way. If you get energized by helping people grow and want to work on products you can be proud of, then you'll love working at Sago Mini, and we can't wait to hear from you.

You'll thrive in this role if you…

• You are at a point in your career where you get more energy from helping others do their best work versus doing the work yourself.
• Have an attentive eye for all the little details that go into making great gameplay experiences.
• Love making beautiful things with code and art.
• Proactively seek out problems, find ways to minimize complexity, and encourage experimentation.
• Get excited about making digital games that delight kids and parents around the world.

What You'll Be Doing

• Be the people manager for a group of Unity Gameplay Developers and Technical Artists. You'll organize regular 1on1s where you'll coach your direct reports and help them progress in their careers. As we grow our team, you'll be responsible for interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new members to our team.
• Establishing our best practices, participating in tech design reviews, and identifying new ways to use technology to make our products the best they can be.
• Working closely with our production managers and design/art/tech/QA leads to plan projects.
• Advocating for and supporting the development of gameplay and tech art tools.
• While your primary focus will be on the people and the gameplay craft, there will be time to roll up your sleeves and evaluate new technology, jump on a project to help a team get unblocked, build tools and prototypes, and create and teach new training programs that help level up our team skills.

Qualifications and Skills

• Experience mentoring high-performing teams in either a people manager or team lead capacity.
• Have high emotional intelligence. You understand what it takes to build great relationships, reduce team stress, and defuse conflict.
• You're multilingual and can speak development, design, and art.
• Able to look at gameplay interaction and articulate why it "feels" good or bad.
• Confident programming using C#, and you're comfortable teaching others basic programming concepts.
• You have a solid foundation in creating 2D/3D games using Unity and a portfolio full of exciting gameplay experiences.
• Excel at writing custom, code-driven motion.
• Able to break down complicated tasks into discrete solvable components, prioritize what is essential, and provide accurate time estimates.

About the Process

• Once you apply, you'll receive an email confirming that we've received your application. After we've had a chance to review your application (1-2 weeks), we'll reach out to let you know what the next steps are.
• If you are moving ahead, your first interview will be a 30 min interview where we'll learn more about you and answer any questions you have about the role.
• In your second interview, you meet with a cross-functional group of Sago Mini members for 1.5hrs. You'll discuss your experience and let us know what you're excited to tackle next in your career.
• Next, we will ask you to complete a short take-home assignment that will assess your tech skills.
• Your fourth and final interview will be a 1.5hr technical interview where we will explore your technical experiences through questions/answers and a live exercise.

We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.  

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Based in Toronto, Sago Mini is a subsidiary of Toca Boca, the No. 1 mobile-first kids brand in the App Store. Both companies are part of Spin Master Corp., a global children's entertainment company that creates, designs and manufactures a diversified portfolio of innovative toys, games, products and entertainment properties. We hire humble, collaborative, and ambitious people who care about doing great work. Sago Mini is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity at our company.