Technical Director

Who is PlaySide?

PlaySide Studios is a dynamic and innovative company that employs individuals across Australia & New Zealand. As Australia's largest publicly listed independent video game developer, PlaySide is committed to delivering cutting-edge interactive experiences across mobile, VR, AR, and PC platforms. With a diverse portfolio of more than 60 titles and collaborations with industry giants like Netflix and Activision Blizzard, working at PlaySide is not just a job but an opportunity to be part of innovating the gaming industry.

Position Overview

As Technical Director, you will oversee the engineering function across multiple titles, ensuring the delivery of robust, scalable, and maintainable solutions across PC, VR, Mobile, and Console platforms. You will provide clear technical leadership and direction, supporting teams to meet both project and studio-wide goals.

In this role, you'll work closely with cross-disciplinary leads to align on architecture, development processes, and implementation standards. You'll help shape the studio's technical strategy, address complex development challenges, and support engineers in developing their skills and delivering quality outcomes. The role is central to fostering a strong, collaborative engineering culture built on shared standards, technical rigour, and clear communication.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with senior leadership to shape and execute our long-term technical strategy, ensuring engineering initiatives align with key business and creative goals.
• Establish and champion engineering best practices that support scalable architecture, high-quality code, and exceptional development outcomes.
• Oversee the planning, resource allocation, and delivery of multiple concurrent engineering projects, ensuring they are on time and within scope.
• Support and grow our engineering leadership by managing recruitment, career development, and performance, fostering strong mentorship across the discipline.
• Lead initiatives to improve processes, identify efficiencies, and enhance quality, delivering a meaningful impact on team performance and project delivery.
• Build strong partnerships with product teams, developers, and internal tech partners (Studio Tech, Ops, Platform, etc.) to create clear requirements and ensure smooth execution.
• Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate key technical risks like scalability and integration challenges to ensure project stability.
• Act as the primary engineering point of contact for projects, providing expert feedback during milestone reviews and delivering project health updates to senior leadership and the CEO.
• Cultivate a culture of excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement, empowering teams to innovate and deliver reliably.
• Collaborate with QA leadership to refine testing pipelines, tools, and methodologies, embedding quality throughout the development lifecycle.

What You Bring to The Table

• Extensive experience in senior engineering leadership roles such as Technical Director, Lead Programmer, or equivalent, with a strong track record of shipping multiple games across a variety of platforms.
• Proven background in software development and engineering management, with the ability to guide teams through complex technical challenges and delivery cycles.
• Deep proficiency in C/C#/C++ programming, with strong understanding of data structures, performance optimization, and multi-threaded programming techniques.
• Strong grasp of software architecture and design principles, including modular and event-driven systems, object-oriented design, and the application of established software design patterns.
• Demonstrated ability to gather and refine use cases, translating complex requirements into clear and scalable technical designs.
• Experience applying Agile and Scrum methodologies to game development, with the ability to bridge iterative development with long-term planning, program-level milestones, and business goals.
• Broad knowledge of multi-platform development, with hands-on experience across Console and PC. VR, Mobile and proprietary engine experience are a plus. You must have a a comprehensive understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities each platform presents.
• Demonstrated experience in live service games with continuous delivery, A/B testing and experience with mobile and console TRCs.
• Demonstrated understanding of secure coding practices, GDPR/COPPA experience and anti-cheat technology.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and deployment (AWS, Azure, Edgegap, etc)

Bonus Points

• Basic understanding and appreciation of other disciplines, especially game design.
• Experience with projects involving multiple internal/external partners and established franchises, requiring close collaboration with publishers.
• Strong passion for video games and the online experience.

What We Offer Here at PlaySide

• Playdays - an additional 5 paid days off per year to do something you love.
• Incredible studios based in gorgeous Port Melbourne, right next to the city and many public transport options.
• Industry-leading Parental Leave benefits.
• Relocation Assistance.
• Employee Assistance Program to support mental well-being.
• Mentoring opportunities to help you grow in your role.
• Half-price state-of-the-art Gym access (right next door) - you can wear your free PlaySide swag
• Social events including Games night, karaoke nights, Movie Nights (We hire out the cinema), group activities, and food trucks Just as some examples