R&D Director [La Forge]

About Ubisoft & Shanghai Studio:

Ubisoft is a global leader in gaming with teams across the world creating original and memorable gaming experiences, from Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, to Just Dance and more. We believe diverse perspectives help both players and teams thrive. If you’re passionate about innovation and pushing entertainment boundaries, join our journey and help us create the unknown! 

Created in 1996, Ubisoft Shanghai studio, is a vibrant and exciting place where our 600+ talents get opportunities to either co-develop great AAA blockbuster games, create cutting-edge online games or produce fun mobile games.

To learn more, please visit: www.ubisoftgroup.com

 

Overview :

The mission of La Forge is to facilitate technological prototyping based on the most recent academic research.

The incumbent is responsible for the operations related to prototyping and La Forge’s R&D activities in China. They work closely with colleagues from La Forge’s other entities and with the Executive Director to ensure coherent, relevant, and agile R&D efforts.

In this role, the incumbent is responsible for identifying current production technologies and articulating potential future technological solutions, supported by the specialists within their team.

The position requires strong leadership skills to influence technological choices within production teams.

The incumbent leverages their technical profile and experience across multiple disciplines relevant to video game development. They are able to connect these disciplines, propose relevant solutions for production pipelines and workflows, and mentor their team to ensure the production ecosystem is taken into account during prototype execution.

La Forge China has developed recognized expertise in generative AI for asset creation (textures, 3D models, etc.) in a game production context. The incumbent will be responsible for defining the research and partnership strategy while maintaining strong collaboration with other laboratories (France, Canada) and local studios.

Responsibilities:

The incumbent is responsible for proposing and leading academic partnerships and for transferring resulting innovations to production teams or core technology teams.

•  Academic partnerships: establishing relevant academic collaborations (selection of researchers, recruitment of students, and use of appropriate funding mechanisms).
•  Production technologies: defining relevant topics, managing the transfer of prototypes, and facilitating their industrialization.

The primary and customary responsibilities of this position include:

• Contributing to Ubisoft’s research strategy, including identifying relevant universities and researchers, and recommending appropriate scientific publication strategies associated with La Forge innovations;
• Supporting the dissemination of research outcomes across Ubisoft by accompanying and supporting their industrialization;
• Contributing to change management driven by Forge innovations by fostering cross-functional collaborations across services and production teams (for example, ensuring that the appropriate departments effectively contribute to industrialization according to their mandate, such as data production, training, and support);
• Proposing and maintaining an R&D roadmap for all research domains under their responsibility;
• Developing and monitoring the budget for each domain, and leveraging appropriate financial mechanisms to establish academic partnerships;
• Ensuring the full lifecycle management of research projects in alignment with Forge processes, and contributing to the evolution of those processes;
• Managing and communicating the team’s operational follow-up to senior management;
• Ensuring the recruitment of suitable profiles to maintain both a high level of research excellence (publications, student supervision, Ubisoft visibility) and a high level of technology transfer to production departments (MVPs, knowledge transfer, resource transfer, etc.);
• Performing any other related duties.

 

In addition, the role includes standard people and management responsibilities:

• Proposing, monitoring, and optimizing the allocated budget;
• Coaching and managing teams;
• Demonstrating the ability to communicate effectively at multiple management levels, including executive leadership, teams, and peers.

Education:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering combined with a Project Management Certificate, or equivalent experience.
• PhD in a relevant discipline is an asset.
• University degree in Management/Administration is an asset.

Relevant Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in software development.
• At least 4 years of experience managing multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong knowledge of second- and third-cycle academic environments and how they operate.
• Experience in game production is an asset.

Skills and Competencies:

• Excellent leadership and communication skills in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Strong positive leadership in changing or uncertain contexts.
• Ability to delegate and empower others.
• Strong analytical and synthesis abilities.
• Strong adaptability to change.
• Results-oriented mindset.
• Fluency in English (French & Mandarin are an asset).

Benefits and Perks from Ubisoft Shanghai:

• A minimum of 15 days paid annual leave
• Monthly meal and snack allowance
• Premium medical insurance plan and free annual health check
• Game Package: free access to Ubisoft games on PC plus a rich and expanding library of games & books
• Employee Assistance Program: wellbeing solutions, emotional support, and life coaching
• Jumpstart your growth:  A rich resevoir of premium and exclusive learning resources to support your continuous learning, expand your skillset, and advance your career.
• 10+ staff clubs featuring weekly sports and gaming activities and events