Software Engineer/Developer

We are seeking a Lead Developer who combines strong software engineering skills with technical leadership. This role is approximately 70% hands-on development and 30% technical leadership, mentoring, and coordination. The successful candidate will build core game systems while guiding engineering practices, supporting other developers, and helping shape the technical direction of multiple educational game projects.

Field Day Lab is a research and development group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that creates educational games and digital tools for teaching and learning. Their focus is on designing interactive experiences that blend game-based learning with academic research, aiming to engage students and teachers in subjects such as science, history, and social studies. The lab collaborates with educators, scientists, and other researchers to develop these digital tools, often grounded in real-world data and classroom environments.

Responsibilities

• Prepares program documentation and training requirements
• Maintains and troubleshoots applications, systems, or websites
• Implements data structure and systems performance strategies
• Reviews application design specifications, codes new applications, and makes enhancements to existing applications
• Develops or modifies technical specifications for low-complexity projects using disciplined software development practices
• Tests and debugs programs, and prepares systems test data
• Translates project goals into technical implementation plans and engineering solutions
• Leads technical decision-making for complex software projects
• Mentors, coaches, and provides technical guidance to software developers
• Breaks large projects into technical workstreams, estimates engineering effort, prioritizes and assigns tasks, tracks progress, and provides feedback
• Collaborates effectively with multidisciplinary teams, including designers, artists, producers, researchers, and educators
• Writes and maintains clear documentation
• Mathematically models domains into simulations
• Mentors interns or early-career developers
• Builds rapid prototypes and fosters a culture of experimentation
• Maintains a regular onsite presence at 1025 W. Johnson Street, Madison, WI multiple days each week

Requirements

• Minimum of 7 years of professional software development experience, including experience developing games and interactive applications
• Demonstrated expertise with Unity and a strong understanding of game development principles
• Advanced proficiency in C# and experience with additional programming languages such as JavaScript and Python
• Experience independently developing game prototypes from concept through implementation
• Ability to read, understand, and refactor code efficiently
• Experience leading technical decision-making for complex software projects
• Demonstrated leadership experience mentoring, coaching, and providing technical guidance to software developers
• Experience breaking large projects into technical workstreams, estimating engineering effort, prioritizing and assigning tasks, tracking progress, and providing feedback
• Ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability and comfort at moving across domains and mathematically modeling them into simulations
• Experience mentoring interns or early-career developers
• Experience building rapid prototypes and creating a culture of experimentation

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Game Development, or a closely related field (preferred)
• Experience leading development teams or serving as a technical lead (preferred)
• Experience with mathematical modeling or simulation development (preferred)
• Experience with educational games, serious games, or learning technologies (preferred)
• Experience collaborating in research or academic environments (preferred)
• Experience with audio editing and recording software (preferred)
• Experience establishing engineering best practices, code review processes, and development workflows (preferred)

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package
• Generous paid time off
• Competitively priced health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• Tax-advantaged savings accounts
• Participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

Pay

Minimum: $70,000. Commensurate with qualifications and experience.