Lead External Development Manager

1 Month ago • 8 Years + • Business Development

Job Summary

Job Description

Epic Games seeks an experienced Lead External Development Manager to partner with external development teams on Fortnite. This role involves managing a team of External Development Managers, building co-dev capacity, ensuring high-quality content delivery from multiple vendors, and fostering strong relationships with external partners. Responsibilities include team mentorship, identifying co-dev needs, sourcing new partners, defining co-dev practices, collaborating with internal teams on contracts and budgeting, and managing vendor communication and performance feedback. The ideal candidate has shipped multiple AAA titles in an External Development/Outsourcing Manager or Producer role.
Must have:
  • 8+ years experience in external development/outsourcing for AAA games
  • Understanding of game development process and external developer integration
  • Strong organization, self-drive, teamwork, and communication skills
  • Ability to track, prioritize, and manage multiple tasks across groups
  • Experience negotiating contracts and managing budgets
Perks:
  • 100% premium coverage for medical, dental, vision
  • Long-term disability, life insurance, 401k match
  • Robust mental well-being program
  • Unlimited PTO and sick time
  • Paid sabbatical after 7 years

Job Details

WHAT MAKES US EPIC?

At the core of Epic’s success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it’s building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we’re always innovating.

Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We’re constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development.

PRODUCTION

What We Do

Whether it’s driving a vision from start to finish or collaborating with teams to inspire and deliver projects of Epic quality, Epic’s production teams take pride in consistently delivering world-class products and experiences.

What You'll Do

Epic Games is searching for an experienced Lead External Development Manager to partner with the external development teams on Fortnite. In this role, you’ll manage a team of External Development Managers focused on building co-dev capacity to ensure that high-quality content and development work is being delivered by multiple external vendors. Key elements of this role are experience managing relationships with external partners, a strong understanding of best practices for external development, the ability to communicate effectively across multiple teams with exceptional transparency and planning, and a strong knowledge of how to properly structure, organize, mentor, and grow your team and external development efforts as a whole. The ideal candidate has shipped multiple AAA titles as an External Development / Outsourcing Manager or vendor-focused Producer.

In this role, you will

  • Drive the growth of the External Development Management team by providing strong mentorship, guidance, and growth opportunities and creating or refining processes as the external development space evolves
  • Work with Fortnite leadership to understand, determine, and deliver on external development needs for co-development across all Epic first-party games. Actively source for new co-dev partners to build additional capacity as needed
  • Draw on your vast experience managing AAA games and your deep understanding of development best practices to provide a vision for successful co-dev practices at Epic
  • Collaborate with Epic’s internal finance, legal, and procurement teams to understand industry standard rates for services and negotiate contract terms with external vendors
  • Be accountable for budget forecasting and management - proactively identifying opportunities to streamline costs, make process improvements, and increase efficiency
  • Manage appropriate contracts and invoice approvals, onboarding and handoff to Epic’s internal teams, and resource ramp-up for external teams
  • Drive the processes for tracking all external vendors - sourcing, evaluations, statements of work, and clearly defining expectations and manage communications, both internal and external, by providing performance feedback to external vendors, while helping maintain strong relationships between external teams and internal stakeholders

What we're looking for

  • 8+ years experience with external development/outsourcing and external content and development management required, preferably for AAA games
  • Demonstrated understanding of the game development process and how multiple external developers can be integrated into a fast-paced and quality-focused project
  • Highly organized, self-driven, goal-oriented, and a great team player able to work with some of the most talented developers in the industry
  • Strong ability to track, prioritize, and conscientiously follow through on multiple competing elements of work, in a timely fashion, across groups with varying interests
  • Clear and concise communication, leadership, and people skills

EPIC JOB + EPIC BENEFITS = EPIC LIFE

Our intent is to cover all things that are medically necessary and improve the quality of life. We pay 100% of the premiums for both you and your dependents. Our coverage includes Medical, Dental, a Vision HRA, Long Term Disability, Life Insurance & a 401k with competitive match. We also offer a robust mental well-being program through Modern Health, which provides free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents. Throughout the year we celebrate our employees with events and company-wide paid breaks. We offer unlimited PTO and sick time and recognize individuals for 7 years of employment with a paid sabbatical.

ABOUT US

Epic Games spans across 25 countries with 46 studios and 4,500+ employees globally. For over 25 years, we've been making award-winning games and engine technology that empowers others to make visually stunning games and 3D content that bring environments to life like never before. Epic's award-winning Unreal Engine technology not only provides game developers the ability to build high-fidelity, interactive experiences for PC, console, mobile, and VR, it is also a tool being embraced by content creators across a variety of industries such as media and entertainment, automotive, and architectural design. As we continue to build our Engine technology and develop remarkable games, we strive to build teams of world-class talent.

Like what you hear? Come be a part of something Epic!

Epic Games deeply values diverse teams and an inclusive work culture, and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. Learn more about our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy .

Note to Recruitment Agencies: Epic does not accept any unsolicited resumes or approaches from any unauthorized third party (including recruitment or placement agencies) (i.e., a third party with whom we do not have a negotiated and validly executed agreement). We will not pay any fees to any unauthorized third party. Further details on these matters can be found .

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About The Company

Founded in 1991, Epic Games is a leading interactive entertainment company and provider of 3D engine technology. Epic operates Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games with over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections. Epic also develops Unreal Engine, which powers the world’s leading games and is adopted across industries such as film and television, architecture, automotive, manufacturing, and simulation. Through Unreal Engine, Epic Games Store, and Epic Online Services, Epic provides an end-to-end digital ecosystem for developers and creators to build, distribute, and operate games and other content. Epic has over 40 offices worldwide with headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.

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