Senior Manager, Software Engineering

Light & Wonder•Chicago, IL

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Light & Wonder is seeking a Senior Manager, Software Engineering to lead our Video and Game Development Technology (GDK) teams. This role is responsible for the software systems, tools, and frameworks that enable game studios to efficiently develop, test, and deliver high-quality video-based gaming content across cabinets and platforms. As a senior engineering leader, you will manage and grow a high-performing team focused on game-facing technology, video systems, tooling, and workflows. You will partner closely with game studios, platform teams, hardware, art, sound, and product stakeholders to ensure our game development ecosystem is scalable, reliable, and aligned with business and regulatory needs. This role blends people leadership, technical direction, and cross-functional influence, with a strong emphasis on enabling developers, reducing friction in game production, and evolving GDK as a product used across the organization.

Requirements

7+ years of professional experience in software engineering, including people leadership.
Experience leading teams responsible for game development tooling, video systems, or developer platforms.
Experience working closely with game developers, artists, and cross-disciplinary teams.
Strong software engineering background; experience with C#, C++, Unity, or related game-adjacent technologies.
Strong understanding of software development lifecycles, tooling, and CI/CD practices.
Proven ability to lead, mentor, and scale engineering teams.
Excellent communication skills and ability to influence across teams.
Comfortable balancing technical depth with people leadership and organizational priorities.

Nice To Haves

Gaming industry experience preferred but not required.
Familiarity with video pipelines, rendering systems, or media-heavy workflows is a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead the design, development, and evolution of video, rendering, tooling, and game development support systems used by internal game studios.
Own and evolve GDK components such as developer tooling, frameworks, pipelines, and supporting services that enable game creation and iteration.
Provide technical direction across Unity-based workflows, media pipelines, and game-adjacent systems.
Ensure solutions meet performance, reliability, security, and regulatory requirements in a highly regulated gaming environment.
Manage, mentor, and develop a team of software engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, quality, and continuous improvement.
Build team capability by reducing single points of failure and enabling shared ownership through documentation, coaching, and deliberate skill development.
Partner with engineers on career growth, goal setting, and performance feedback.
Support hiring and onboarding as the team scales.
Partner with game studios, platform engineering, hardware, art, sound, QA, and product teams to deliver seamless game development solutions.
Translate studio needs into scalable technical solutions and tooling improvements.
Serve as a key technical and organizational interface between game teams and platform capabilities.