Assistant Producer - Japanese Speaking

Main purpose

Support and enable the Production Team, within the project area/discipline allocated, to manage the overall production. Act as main liaison between Japan and the Cambridge studio, using language skills and cultural knowledge to ensure smooth, efficient and productive meetings, requests and feedback as required.

Work with members of the development team to ensure that Production driven procedures, which focus on standardising/organising workflow to allow for high quality & innovative work, are understood & adhered to.
With support from the Production team, work to improve procedures to strengthen, streamline and ensure integration of team communication and work-flow processes. Actively support, endorse and champion proper procedure within development teams. Actively seek solutions in order to accommodate change as appropriate, understand and minimise impact of change particularly with respect to other disciplines.
Support the Production Team in communicating the vision of the game, maintaining quality and encouraging a culture of innovation within the team.

Accountabilities

1. Under the direction of a more senior member of the production team, work with the development teams to ensure they are properly supported with a suitable schedule. Understand & demonstrate the importance of balancing task priority with resource availability in order to be able to consistently deliver the team deliverables on time, to budget and to quality. Actively manage dependencies to/from the team and assist in unblocking deadlocks between different disciplines, highlighting key issues to more senior members of the production team as necessary.

2. Act as main translator and meeting coordinator for liaison between Japan and the Cambridge studio. Ensure all communication is timely, efficient and appropriate - understanding & demonstrating the importance of being the representation of Ninja Theory production and the studio as a whole at all times.

3. Assist in maintaining a suitable sign-off tracker for the team deliverables.

4. Identify and help manage risk areas with a focus on, but not limited to, the discipline area allocated. Provide regular updates and analysis of progress to the rest of the production team. Ensure the team deliverables are fully supported by adequate release notes for each milestone.

5. Provide a written weekly report of progress within the discipline area allocated and ensure the team is fully apprised of relevant information through effective communication. Provide support to senior members of the production team during meetings with the Team Lead.

6. Promote and support implementation of best practice development process for the team and troubleshoot and resolve any workflow related situations/problems, escalating issues to senior production team members as appropriate. Ensure overall decisions, scheduling and direction of the discipline area allocated remain in-line with the long-term vision of Ninja Theory Ltd & communicating any potential variances to the rest of the production team.

7. Establish and maintain own personal development & knowledge base both within production and the games industry in general.



Additional information

Production skills should be sufficiently transferable to allow work within numerous disciplines as required by the project. The role of the Assistant Producer relies heavily on strong communication both within the development team and the production team as issues should be highlighted in a timely and effective manner. The role is extremely varied and the role holder must be prepared to be involved at many different levels in many different areas.

Due to the time differences between Japan and the UK there may be a need for earlier or later starts depending on meeting times. A flexibility therefore on start and finish times is required when necessary.

Knowledge and Skills required

Essential

A degree level educational qualification in a relevant discipline

Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to gain credibility quickly & effectively.

Excellent & demonstrable written, spoken and reading skills within the Japanese language & a strong understanding of the cultural awareness needed within business transactions

Strong organisational skills and the ability to demonstrate an understanding of the potential difficulties of balancing differing priorities within a fast-paced work environment

Self motivated and proactive in seeking out answers and preventing issues combined with the ability to take direction and work in a team

Excellent problem solving and troubleshooting skills, flexible and adaptable, ability to find solutions that will facilitate creative improvements with minimal impact on resource and time restraints.

Proven ability to work in a fast paced environment yet maintaining a strong attention to detail and good documentation skills

Should also be punctual, articulate, meticulous and numerate

A love of games and a passion for the industry

Desirable

MS Project, Excel and Word skills

An understanding of the games industry from a production perspective