Stewart Needham Email & Phone Number

Oakham, Gb

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Gb

Providing strategic and engineering leadership across all of our studios technical departments which are currently developing the next title in the Dead Island series. Ultimately responsible for the viability of the studios technical output, I define the vision and philosophies behind the development processes and technology choices which ensure stability, performance and quality in our output. Core Responsibilities- Team structure and organisation- Recruitment, Retainment & Employee development- Ensuring that the engineering team overall well being and positive mental health are prioritised. - Lead, Support and mentor the engineering leadership team- Shaping and defining the future technical roadmaps and requirements for the studio- Embody and drive the overall engineering culture within the studio- Work closely with project leads to define the titles' technical requirements, constraints, risks and opportunities- Facilitate the sharing of technical knowledge and learnings across the studio's engineering teams- Overseeing the technical architecture of the runtime systems used by our games- Identify and manage technical dependencies and risks for the studio- Define and develop the processes to ensure that the high standards of technical viability are upheldWorking as part of the wider director group and in partnership with the studio head to encourage an open and transparent culture where our colleagues thrive in a safe and supportive environment.

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Gb

Currently leading development of Homefront - The Revolution

Responsible for overseeing the strategic management of a school, holding the senior leadership team to account and making decisions about a wide range of issues. As chair of the governing body I coordinate the wider board of governors, made up of representatives from the school, the parents, the local authority and the local community, in our core responsibilities of:Ensuring accountabilityWorking with the Head Teacher to promote and maintain high standards of educational achievement. Acting as a ‘critical friend’ to the Head TeacherMonitoring and evaluating the school’s progressBudgetary allocation and controlShaping plans for school improvement and overseeing their implementationSetting a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction for the school

Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, De

Leading the gamecode development on the sequel to Homefront. I work with a team of highly skilled and passionate engineers, directly managing the group which architect the systems and pipelines that define the final game experience. My role is as much about efficient system design and providing workflows for content creators as it is about developing the individual members of my team and implementing processes to ensure that we deliver on our goals and remain efficient at all times.Other responsibilities include recruitment, retainment, employee development, performance, setting the direction for current and future technology, planning, scheduling and occasionally writing somecode too.

Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, De

Led the development effort of Crysis 3 Multiplayer. A title created in conjunction with Crytek Frankfurt. Worked closely with the Electronic Arts production group & global online services in the successful delivery, execution and post release support of a number of key deliveries.Gold (PC/Xbox360/PS3)Open Beta (PC/Xbox360/PS3) -3 Million downloadsClosed Alpha (PC)Numerous Tech 200 Trials (PC/Xbox/PS3)Oversaw the development of several key areas:- The transition to Blaze & Nucleus. EA's online service infrastructure and game lobby solution. - The iteration of our bespoke anticheat/DRM strategy- Technology & infrastructure to support live patching of assets & data without the need of a title update.- System's to automatically create, assign and track in game friend challenges.- Systems to support an in game dynamic news feed containing friend challenge/progression updates as well as RSS style global broadcasts.- New gameplay features (Pinger, VTOL, Rip & Throw mechanics)

Gb

At Bizarre I worked with and managed the game code team on the unannounced AAA racing sequel to Blur. As leader of this team I directed the design and delivery of all new game systems as well as being part of the team which worked to evolve the codebase in preparation for future racing titles. New systems included Traffic, Race Scripting and a completely reworked AI/Track data system. Any system that required exposure to non-programmers has been supported with strong tools written with rapid iteration in mind and problem finding features built in. Building a strong team was key to our successful delivery of major milestones. To Facilitate this I spent a lot of time developing my staff through team training, personal mentoring & peer reviewing. An area I focus on a great deal is good engineering practices and code design. Through group discussions, directed reading and engineering challenges I was able to improve the skillset of the team as a whole in areas such as API design and writing efficient yet decoupled code. For almost a year the team mobilised to assist in delivering the Blur multiplayer experience. During this period I developed the game cameras used in the on track experience along with associated effects.Part of my role also included project planning, scheduling, and being involved in the recruitment process at Bizarre. I worked closely with our shared technology and tools teams, directing work where necessary and ensuring constant communication between all sub-teams.

Nottingham, Gb

I joined Free Radical Design in Summer 2007, taking a role as the initial engineer on a prototype for a new Timesplitters game. Over time I helped grow the team to 8 software engineers. After setting up the codebase and integrating it with our cross-platform engine and tool chain I have focussed on integrating in Havok physics and player gameplay code. In later months I was gradually taking over responsibility for the software team on the project. Duties included scheduling, system architecture design and liaising with the other software leads on the future direction of the shared codebase. Part of my role involved inducting all new engineers onto the team.

Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb

Worked on an undisclosed prototype game for Xbox 360. Developed new gameplay ideas and mechanics. This also involved evaluating third party middleware. As a senior engineer I also spent time working for the in house shared technology group developing, and later supervising a new visibility system and its associated tools.

Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb

As a game engine programmer I worked as part of the team which delivered Perfect Dark Zero ready for the launch of the Xbox 360 in November 2005. I saw the project through its entire lifecycle which included two platform changes and a team growing to over 50 people. Key responsibilities included building and maintaining the game framework, writing tools (editors, debugging, cpu profiling) and vehicle dynamics. Apart from development, I also spent time acting as an artist liaison and mentoring less experienced programmers as they joined the team.

While studying for my degree I worked for a small company that specializes in applying advanced dsp techniques to real-time financial market data. My primarily role involved developing software for a web based platform using PHP which would attempt to predict the short term performance of futures commodities. The software generates buy/sell signals using processed historic data. This also involved writing socket based network clients to collect and store this information.

Beng/Meng, Telecommunications Electronics And Computer Engineering

A-Level, Computing, Electronics, Maths