Lead SW Engineer, UI - Heroes of the Storm

Description

Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm team seeks an experienced lead user interface engineer. This position is responsible for guiding the technical efforts of top talent to create engaging user experiences within a mature codebase. The ideal candidate will be able to realize the vision of the art and design while working within the limits of the engine and engineering resources. Effective communication skills allowing tactful negotiations and technical guidance are paramount to success in this role.

• Lead the UI team to meet all established goals and requirements.
• Work closely with designers, artists, and other engineers to establish a shared vision for compelling UI features.
• Implement functional and elegant UI features from approved concepts.
• Develop new functionality in the underlying UI framework to support new gameplay features.
• Develop the technology plan and oversee all UI development.
• Work with production staff and other leads to establish engineering tasks and subsequent schedule requirements.
• Review and approve all completed engineering tasks in collaboration with the production staff and other leads.
• Ensure that the UI team adheres to established coding standards and maintains efficient coding practices.
• Serve as an active partner in the team’s leadership.
• Acquire new knowledge necessary to perform assigned tasks and maintain the technological evolution of the interface.
• Manage a healthy relationship with non-engineering teams.
• Provide critical analysis of programming and development practices with the goal of improving quality and team efficiency and fostering a positive working environment.

• Extensive user interface design and implementation experience
• A minimum of 6 years’ professional game programming experience, with at least one shipped AAA title
• Extensive leadership experience
• Expert C++ programming skills
• Deep familiarity with common user interface concepts like layout, text, event-driven programming, and control widgets
• Experience working with localization / internationalization systems and dealing with common related issues
• Able to work in a collaborative environment with a team of highly skilled programmers
• Demonstrated ability to balance personnel management and programming tasks
• Able to work in a collaborative team environment and handle multiple projects simultaneously
• Self-motivated and self-directing, knowledgeable about and willing to pitch in on many areas of development
• High comfort level working within, and analyzing and improving, an established code base
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Passion for video games

• Computer science or related degree
• Experience developing or maintaining a UI toolkit framework
• Familiar with Lua, Python, or other scripting languages
• Familiar with Flash / ActionScript
• Experience working directly with low-level 3D graphics systems
• Familiar with StarCraft II and other Blizzard Entertainment games
• Passion for RTS or MOBA games

• Resume
• Cover Letter which should include:
  • Why you are interested in working at Blizzard
  • What games you are currently playing