Engineering Manager - Technical Partner Management

About the role

The Engineering Manager - Technical Partner Management is responsible for leading the team of Technical Leads, guiding the people and processes that ensure external partners deliver technical excellence. This role is the technical "bridge" between external studios and Aspyr's internal Production and QA teams, with a primary mission to verify artifacts, architecture, and planning, operating under the principle of "Trust but Verify".

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Technical Leads, coaching them on how to effectively oversee external development without losing sight of technical rigor
• Contribute, teach, and model best behavior on how to effectively audit third-party codebases, artifacts, and technical roadmaps
• Conduct regular internal 1:1s to provide tactical advice on navigating complex partner dynamics and career growth
• Partner with Production and QA to identify risks early and deliver firm truths to partners when quality isn't met, ensuring the relationship remains intact and collaborative
• Review partner architectural plans and milestones to proactively identify critical risks and underlying technical debt that could derail a project months down the line.
• Establish technical review cadences with external partners, including code reviews, architecture reviews, build reviews, risk reviews, and milestone readiness assessments
• Own the technical partner management function for external engineering partners, ensuring partner work meets Aspyr’s standards for architecture, code quality, build stability, platform compliance, and milestone readiness
• Work closely with the Head of Engineering to align partner technical strategies with Aspyr’s internal standards
• Collaborate with Production to ensure technical milestones are realistic and with QA to ensure that "quality" is a measurable metric

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience managing, mentoring, and growing engineers, with a proven track record of developing their technical capabilities as well as their soft skills (communication, conflict resolution, and relationship management)
• 8+ years of hands-on professional experience in software engineering with a strong focus on coding, rigorous code reviews, and software architecture within the games industry
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, related field, or equivalent hands-on professional experience
• Strong, professional C++ programming experience to effectively audit codebases and guide technical conversations
• Source Control Proficiency: Robust experience with modern source control systems (e.g., Perforce, Git) is required, including a deep understanding of branching, merging, and build pipelines
• Exceptional ability to translate complex technical risks into actionable, direct feedback for partners and internal stakeholders
• Experience working directly with video game publishers or managing first-party platform relationships
• Production experience using Scrum, Agile, or other modern project management methodologies
• Experience in a "Co-Dev" or "External Development" environment
• Background in shipping high-profile ports, remasters, or multi-platform titles
• Strong understanding of first-party platform dynamics, guidelines, submission processes (e.g., Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo)

Qualifications

Aspyr is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.