Release Manager

Join Romero Games as we develop John Romero’s next First Person Shooter in partnership with a major publisher! This is an unprecedented opportunity to join a thriving independent development studio and work on a high-profile title that will be played by millions of gamers worldwide.

We’re seeking a Release Manager to take ownership of our build release cycle, ensuring smooth high-quality build deliveries across multiple platforms.

This role would be integral to planning, scheduling, and executing releases both for internal playtests, and future customer facing releases. Collaborating with teams to maintain alignment and improve processes, a key driver in enhancing release capabilities, ensuring stability, compliance, and the best player experience across platforms such as PC & Consoles

This role would also focus on internal playtesting releases, where the whole company and/or different teams join together to play the latest version of our products and provide their feedback. This is a vital, complex and time-consuming process, offering the opportunity to lead initiatives, develop scalable practices, and directly impact the success of our internal development practices and future releases.

This position is open to remote work for the right candidate, with the option to relocate to our office in Galway, Ireland. 

What you will do 

• Ownership of our build release lifecycle

• Plan, schedule and execute our internal playtest and external releases across multiple first parties.

• Go/No-go reviews & post-release monitoring. 

• Maintaining a release schedule and ensuring alignment across teams.

• Monitoring player feedback and helping process it with internal groups. 

• Maintain internal playtest release schedule

• Covers long / short / immediate term playtest release scheduling

• Covers all-hands playtests, plus any smaller scale playtests to be scheduled internally and externally.

• Book and chair playtest scheduling meetings

• Maintain list of playtest stakeholders

• Ensure correct process is followed to protect the quality of playtest builds

• Monitor and optimise playtest > feedback > playtest iteration loop

• Evangelise training to improve feedback quality 

• ensure that expectations are clear to all involved 

• Playtesters provide high quality feedback 

• Design stakeholders read and respond 

• Production ensure project timelines allow for feedback reception, response, implementation and iteration 

• Monitor playtest feedback - assess quality & provide support / course correction if required

• Monitor playtest feedback reception by design - ensure it’s being acknowledged (at minimum), responded to with context and acted on where appropriate (goal)

• Monitor / drive / optimise all playtest processes 

• Work with QA to own the release of playtest builds

• Ensure smoketests to verify target playtest content 

• Own final approval of playtest builds for release

• Work with dev to define clear process for “ad-hoc” playtests outside of regular schedule

• Ensure playtest contents matches schedule

• Draft and send playtest briefing messages

• Draft weekly playtesting report: successes, failures, participation, key feedback points obtained, key responses to feedback and actions arising

• weekly summary of playtest success / failure / results / actions arising

• Work with QA to determine suitable builds 

• Support all playtest events including internal, small and large scale for both pre- and post-launch!

• Playtest Data Gathering / Telemetry

• Work with design, production and telemetry / data team to understand: 

• What data can we gather from playtests

• How can we marry this with the qualitative playtest feedback

• What are the gaps in our data & how can we address them 

• How can the combined data best be reported and shared with the company 

What you need to have 

• Experience of Release Scheduling

• Proven experience in Release Management, with a strong understanding of the Software Development Lifecycle.

• Expertise in managing releases for multi-platform products.

• Excellent communication skills, capable of interfacing with all levels of stakeholders and external partners.

• Experience of playtesting process

• Knowledge of playtesting best practices

• How to schedule, define, execute and gather information 

• What a successful playtest looks like 

• Knowledge of game development process 

• Understanding of game structure and feature / content intents 

• Able to use judgement to estimate if planned deliveries align with the proposed testing schedule (e.g. if comprehensive feedback on a level is required, level needs to be L3 or better) 

• Knowledge of FPS design & product space

• Familiar with key features of the FPS genre 

• Understands the strengths and weaknesses of key competitor products in the genre

• Understanding of what makes good feedback

• Know the key qualities of good qualitative feedback

• Be able to review and provide tips for improving feedback regardless of source 

• Deliver qualitative feedback training material wherever necessary

• Diplomatic communication style

• Able to discuss playtest planning and scheduling with stakeholders

• Able to balance stakeholder wants with established process and make informed judgements based on goals, risks and software status

• Organised approach to scheduling 

• Able to understand, manage and align playtest schedule with product delivery schedule

• Able to do this in parallel for multiple feature and content tracks

• Clear and concise report writing ability

• Understand how to summarise the feedback that we’re getting, the actions we’re taking, the success/failure of playtests in general to provide a weekly summary to the whole company 

What is nice to have 

• Large scale presentation experience

• Rather than solely rely on email / slack to share playtest info - would be good for the playtest owner to have a regular slot in a company wide meeting to present this information directly 

• Ideally they should have relevant experience presenting to large groups remotely & in person, and be comfortable / confident in doing this 

• Data Gathering and representation

• Understand how to use data visualisation tools (e.g. PowerBI) to represent large amounts of complex data in an easily readable way 

Benefits:

• Ownership. Everyone in the company benefits from ownership in the company. Every full-time Romero Games employee is given a stake. (This benefit is not open to contractors.)

• Vacation: Time off for vacation. Five weeks vacation per year + 10 national holidays. Extra vacation days after 5 and 10 years of service.

• Hybrid Working. Flexible working hours, including work-from-home and remote work.

• Sabbaticals: At 5+ years, should you choose to take unpaid time for a personal project, we will cover 20% of your pay provided that it is in your area of interest.

• Premium Health. Premium health benefits, plus extended healthcare coverage.

• Fertility Leave: For employees undergoing IVF treatment, surrogacy or other forms of fertility treatment, two days per cycle for recovery or travel.

• Relocation assistance. Flexible start dates, relocation reimbursement and assistance in finding housing. 

• Life-Friendly Policies: We understand that work is one of the things that you do and that life happens. We have a long and consistent pattern of life-friendly management, whether taking your kids to creche, assisting your parents with an appointment, or taking your pet to the vet.

• Menopause: Up to five days off per year for appointments or recovery days.

• Compassionate Leave / Bereavement. We support employees by offering paid time off during bereavement for immediate family. This includes loss of pregnancy, including the loss of surrogate pregnancy.

• Parental Leave and Support. Family-focused benefits include fully paid maternity and paternity leave and flexible work hours. Most people here are parents. We get it.

• Professional Development: World-class workshops on accessibility, diversity, design and more, from internationally recognized experts.

• Social Events. Regular social events such as pub nights (including online pub nights), holiday parties, barbecues and conferences, with accommodation and travel covered by us. 

• Expert Speakers. Monthly insider expert seminars with renowned creators such as John Carmack, Rhianna Pratchett (Tomb Raider), Warren Spector (Deus Ex), David Brevik (Diablo), Harvey Smith (Dishonored), Josh Sawyer (Pillars of Eternity), and more.

• Bike to Work Programme: Within Ireland, using the Bike-to-Work government initiative, employees obtain a brand new bike and safety equipment worth up to €1,250 for a regular bike, and up to €1,500 for an electric bike. The scheme covers your new bike and gear, saving 52% of the retail price of bike and equipment.