Lead Developer

PlayFirst is a leading publisher focused on creating shared casual game experiences around lasting original brands. Committed to building casual gameplay rich in story and character, PlayFirst works with talented internal and external developers to bring mass market games to multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, mobile, handheld and console. The company's portfolio includes the world-renowned Diner Dash® franchise as well as top-selling games such as Wedding Dash™, Chocolatier™, and Dream Chronicles™. For more information, visit www.playfirst.com and www.dinerdash.com.

Founded in 2004 by veterans of Internet portals, traditional games publishers, entertainment software, and technology firms, PlayFirst is funded by Mayfield Fund, Trinity Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners and DCM. PlayFirst, Inc is headquartered in downtown San Francisco.

Job Description:

We are looking for a Lead Developer that can take on the role for shaping the future of our release engineering and infrastructure tools, while taking on the responsibility of maintaining the current implementation, and ensuring that all requests are serviced in a timely fashion. In this role, you will be the manager of a junior release engineer, whose primary job function is to service day to day requests, and perform the first level of troubleshooting when things go wrong.

In this position you will evaluate and understand the existing system and service its ongoing maintenance needs, while working on a new implementation with the following goals: Ease of use, maintainability, expandability, scalability, and reliability.

We are looking for a proactive and results-driven individual who pays great attention to detail. The successful candidate will be highly organized with excellent time management skills to prioritize tasks, have the ability to effectively communicate with technical and non-technical people, and can design and implement self-explanatory user interfaces for non-technical people.

Responsibilities:

Manage and mentor a junior level release engineer
Maintain existing build tools infrastructure
Replace or enhance existing tools infrastructure to a new specification
Identify, design, and implement tasks that can be automated to better help the organization
Establish, communicate, and enforce conventions that will be used by developers working on all of PlayFirst's games
Manage and prioritize requests from various departments

Requirements:

Python
General Shell Scripting Skills (Windows and Unix)
Perforce
C++ (MSVC for Windows)
Web technologies (RDBMS, HTML, JavaScript)
Understanding of OOP
Write and maintain code that can be changed quickly and easily
Extend and debug code written by others
Previous experience supervising at least one employee
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science
Eligibility to work in the U.S. without sponsorship

Preferred:

Ruby, ruby on rails
Experience with Macintosh (C++, Xcode)
Maintenance and installation of tools for both Windows and Macintosh
Use of Cygwin
Symantec Wise Package Studio (application installation and configuration)

Benefits

Our core benefits include: health, dental, vision, life/disability, Flexible spending accounts, 401(k), and Stock Options.
In addition to being located in the heart of the financial district (1 block from BART), we also have great fringe benefits which include: generous paid time off, 10 company holidays, yoga, chair massage, snacks, refreshments, "playdates" when we test our games, and great growth opportunities.

To apply for this position, please email your resume in a standard Word or PDF document to jobs@playfirst.com and please include the exact job title in the subject line as above.