Senior Game Producer

About us:

* Tapulous is the #1 developer of iPhone games. We are a profitable <20 person team in downtown Palo Alto, CA. We are growing FAST
* Our flagship title, Tap Tap Revenge has been downloaded 17 million times, and is played over 2 million times a day around the world. 32% of all of iPhone/ipod Touch users have downloaded one of our applications
* Mobile apps are the next frontier. Contact us if you’d like to join a market leader

About the Job:

* As our first producer you will help define how we manage the game production lifecycle. You will be core to our culture and the ongoing productivity of the development team
* Work with company leadership to establish and maintain the vision, scope, schedule, budget and resource plan for game titles

Responsibilities:

* Actively participate in the game design process, often representing the voice of reason and reality
* Work directly with talented designers, engineers and artists to ensure the smooth development of quality products
* Own it and ship it. Ensure all concurrent game projects meet schedule, budgetary, and marketing requirements
* Scale it. Wherever possible create repeatable processes to improve efficiency and predictability

Requirements:

* An unquenchable passion for making and playing computer games
* 5+ years working as a lead producer
* You've shipped more games than you can easily count - including multiple casual, social and/or mobile games that had short timelines and small budgets
* Ability to gracefully balance schedule needs with creative imperatives. You push for quality, innovation and fun while managing budget and time
* Formidable project management skills: you are comfortable maintaining multiple projects at once with short release cycles. Nothing falls through the cracks.
* Comfortable with ambiguity. You excel at identifying, assessing and solving problems quickly
* A penchant for barreling through roadblocks and facilitating compromise: you make everyone around you more sane, happy and productive
* Experience with agile software development: short sprints and frequent iterations are your bailiwick
* Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
* Emotionally mature. Motivated. Frugal. Team player. Strong but egoless. Lifelong learner. Flexible

Nice to have:

* Up to speed with the latest trends in social games on Facebook, MySpace, Xbox live, etc.
* Experience managing live games - where the game is continuously iterated and improved after shipping
* A deep, personal connection to music, and/or experience shipping music games
* Familiarity with virtual goods and in-game commerce concepts
* A knack for adding structure and predictability while not stifling creativity, speed or flexibility
* Experience in non-producer roles (artist, designer, engineer) in the game development life cycle
* Experience as the first producer at a startup gaming company
* Experience hiring, managing and mentoring producers and other game industry professionals
* Experience managing third party studios and developers

How to Apply:

* Play Tap Tap Revenge. No seriously, please play before you apply. We will talk to you about the experience as part of the interview process. Borrow a friend’s iPhone if you have to.
* Write a cover letter. Applications without cover letters will not be considered. It would be great if you could list some of the titles you shipped in your cover letter and provide links to places we can learn more about them (or play them)
* When you finish your job application we'll show how you are connected to our team on LinkedIn. We strongly prefer applications with endorsements. Please ask anyone we know in common to endorse your job application.