Head of Game Development

Job description

Join us as Head of Game Development at Twin Harbour Interactive! At Twin Harbour Interactive we strive to develop high-quality strategy games and make them accessible for all players around the world. In our eyes game development is a promise for fun and entertainment – that’s what we live and aim for! Innovation is part of our DNA. We actively integrate Artificial Intelligence to reduce repetitive tasks and create space for what really matters: strategic thinking and human connection. We don't just use AI - we look for people who can shape the way we work with it. We're looking for a Head of Game Development to own the engineering side of our game portfolio: the people, the standards, and the long-term capability of the discipline. This is a senior leadership role reporting directly to the VP Technology. You will be the most senior engineering leader for all game-facing engineers. Reporting directly to the VP Technology you will hold the engineering people leadership for the game organization outright, and you build the department that builds the games. Your job is not to be in the code. It is to develop the engineers and leads who are, give them the standards and authority to do excellent work, and build the conditions where they can thrive over the long term. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES People and careers Own the people development, career growth, and performance of all game engineers. Directly line manage Tech Leads and coach them to develop their own teams with the aim of building their autonomy over time. Build and maintain career frameworks covering both engineering lead and individual contributor tracks; giving game engineers clarity on what growth looks like and how it's recognised. Drive the recruitment and retention of diverse engineering talent across frontend, game server, and backend disciplines. Build team conditions where engineers feel safe to raise problems, challenge assumptions, and do their best work across both new and live games. Standards and quality Define and uphold the quality bar for game engineering, giving Tech Team Leads the expectations, support, and authority to hold it in practice across their teams. Partner with the VP Technology and Tech Team Leads to ensure technical standards are coherent and consistently applied across all titles. Champion a culture of continuous improvement in how teams work, including how emerging tools and AI-assisted workflows accelerate development and delivery. Portfolio and strategy Partner with the VP Technology and Head of Platform to define and own the technical strategy for game engineering across all live titles and new development. Manage engineering staffing allocation across all titles balancing live ops growth against new development velocity, and proactively surfacing capacity and coverage risks. Stay current with trends in engineering culture, developer experience, and new ways of working; bring what's relevant back into the organisation. Delivery partnership Partner with peer Heads of Department: Art, Design, and others. You represent the engineering organisation's constraints, capacity, and standards in those conversations, and you are accountable for making sure engineering reality shapes decisions early enough to matter rather than arriving as bad news after commitments have been made. Act as the escalation point when game-level leads encounter cross-title conflicts or decisions that need senior engineering judgment. YOUR PROFILE A people leader first. You have a proven track record of developing engineers and engineering leads, not just managing them. You build people's careers deliberately, give feedback that lands, and create teams others want to be part of. Credibility across the stack. You have experience with Unity, TypeScript, or Java, and preferably more than one. You have an engineering background with experience across client, backend, or game server development with enough depth to earn respect with engineers in each discipline and engage meaningfully on architecture and technical trade-offs. You don't need to be the best engineer in the room; you need to be able to recognise one. Live service experience. You know how to ship into a live environment at a pace that builds momentum rather than erodes trust, and you can build teams that treat each release as an opportunity to move the game forward, not just a risk to be managed. Agile fluency without dogma. You know when to lean on structure and when to cut through it. You can run a new title team at the pace and ambition the opportunity demands, while keeping live game teams focused on the work that compounds: the features, improvements, and optimisations that grow engagement over time. Genuine enthusiasm for games. You care about the players who spend years inside them, and that shapes how you think about engineering quality and team investment. Fluent English is required. Degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience - depth matters more than credentials. Why You'll Love Working With Us A Global Team, A Shared Purpose Our strength lies in our diversity. With over 30 nationalities represented across our two locations, we’re united by a shared passion for strategy games and a bold vision for the future. We celebrate what makes each of us unique – our perspectives, our stories, and the paths that led us here. Work Your Way Whether you're crafting code from a harbor-view desk in Hamburg or fine-tuning design details under the Maltese sun, we support flexible hybrid work models that empower you to do your best work – wherever you are. Grow With Us At Twin Harbour, your journey matters. Our Career Path Framework and mentorship culture provide the clarity and feedback you need to take the next step – whether you’re deepening your expertise or branching into new disciplines. We invest in your growth with language courses, e-learning platforms, and support for conferences and training. We’re Human First We believe that great teams are built on trust, respect, and good humor. From game nights to casual drinks, quiz nights, and karaoke, we don’t just work together – we connect, play, and support each other like a true crew. Join Twin Harbour Interactive Where Strategy Meets Vision. Twin Harbour Interactive is a global strategy game powerhouse, shaping the future of long-term multiplayer gaming. With offices in Hamburg and Malta , we design strategy games that bring people together – across borders and generations. Whether you’re an expert tactician or an imaginative world-builder, there’s a place here for you to grow, thrive, and leave your mark.