Senior External Development Manager

OUR STUDIO At Housemarque , we believe gameplay always comes first. With technical excellence and compelling narrative, spiced with our trademark neon flair and top-notch audiovisual feedback, we want our players to always feel actively engaged with the worlds we have created for them. Our award-winning game Returnal , released on PS5 in 2021, and Saros , released in 2026, embrace all these qualities. THIS is our DNA! We value Nordic work-life balance by growing sustainably and ensuring our employees have the time and means to develop personally and professionally during work time. We were established in 1995 with strong roots in the Finnish demoscene . In June 2021 we joined the PlayStation Studios , after years of partnership. If you wish to join us for our next journey, apply today! The Job As a Senior External Development Manager, you will work with the talented teams behind RETURNAL and SAROS to help drive the next evolution of Housemarque games. Partnering closely with Production, Directors, Leads, and external development partners, you will lead the planning, execution, and successful delivery of external development for a AAA project. Your focus will be ensuring that our teams have the right resources, expertise, and partnerships in place to deliver high-quality player experiences. This role combines strategic partner management with hands-on production ownership. You will be responsible for forecasting project needs, managing external development budgets, balancing workload across Housemarque-internal, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and external teams, and identifying opportunities to improve how we collaborate with partners. As a senior member of the External Development team, you will also help shape how Housemarque approaches co-development and outsourcing, contributing to the continued evolution of our development practices across future projects. You will report to the External Development Director and work across all disciplines involved in the project. What will your day-to-day look like? Partner with Producers, Leads, and Development Managers to plan and execute co-development and external content production initiatives. Build strong relationships with external partners, ensuring clear communication, alignment, and successful delivery of project goals. Forecast external development needs, manage budgets, and support long-term resource planning. Identify production risks and work proactively with internal and external stakeholders to resolve issues before they impact delivery. Improve external development processes, workflows, and ways of working to support effective collaboration across teams. Support partner onboarding, contracts, statements of work, due diligence activities, and information security processes in collaboration with Sony teams. Mentor and guide project stakeholders on best practices for working effectively with external development partners. Contribute to the long-term growth and development of External Development at Housemarque. What will help you be successful in this role? Experience leading External Development, Outsourcing, Co-Development, Production, or Project Management efforts within AAA game development. Proven ability to manage external partners and build productive, long-term working relationships. Strong understanding of game development pipelines, production methodologies, and project delivery. Experience managing budgets and making financial decisions that support both project goals and business objectives. Ability to build alignment across stakeholders from different disciplines and levels of seniority. Comfortable working with international teams across different cultures and time zones. A collaborative approach to solving complex production challenges and driving work forward. Experience contributing to the successful shipment of at least one AAA PC or console title as a developer, content creator or as a member of a quality assurance team. We recognise that no candidate w…