Edtech.com's Summary

University of Wisconsin - Madison is hiring a Software Engineer/Developer to serve as a Lead Developer for Field Day Lab, building core game systems for educational games while guiding engineering practices across the team. The role splits roughly 70% hands-on development and 30% technical leadership, mentoring, and coordination. The lab partners with educators, scientists, and researchers to build interactive learning tools grounded in real classroom data.

Highlights

Build core game systems for educational and research-driven game projects
Guide engineering practices and shape technical direction across multiple projects
Mentor and coach other developers and interns on technical decisions
Break large projects into workstreams, estimate effort, and track progress
Develop rapid prototypes and foster a culture of fast iteration
Collaborate with designers, artists, producers, researchers, and educators
Use Unity and advanced C#, plus JavaScript and Python as needed
Maintain clear technical documentation and written project communication
Require 7+ years of professional software development experience, including games
Offer a comprehensive benefits package including PTO, health/dental/vision/life insurance, and the Wisconsin Retirement System pension
Minimum compensation of $70,000, commensurate with experience

Software Engineer/Developer Full Description

Job Summary

We are seeking a Lead Developer who combines strong software engineering skills with technical leadership. This role is approximately 70% hands-on development and 30% technical leadership, mentoring, and coordination. The successful candidate will build core game systems while guiding engineering practices, supporting other developers, and helping shape the technical direction of multiple educational game projects.

Field Day Lab is a research and development group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that creates educational games and digital tools for teaching and learning. Their focus is on designing interactive experiences that blend game-based learning with academic research, aiming to engage students and teachers in subjects such as science, history, and social studies.

The lab collaborates with educators, scientists, and other researchers to develop these digital tools, often grounded in real-world data and classroom environments. They explore how games can enhance learning by providing students with interactive, immersive environments where they can experiment, explore, and apply concepts in new ways.

Key Job Responsibilities

Prepares program documentation and training requirements
Maintains and troubleshoots applications, systems, or websites
Implements data structure and systems performance strategies
Reviews application design specifications, codes new applications, and makes enhancements to existing applications
Develops or modifies technical specifications for low-complexity projects using disciplined software development practices
Tests and debugs programs, and prepares systems test data

Department

School of Education / Wisconsin Center for Education Research - Field Day Lab

Compensation

Minimum: $70,000. Commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off, competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance, tax-advantaged savings accounts, and participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund.

Required Qualifications

Minimum of 7 years of professional software development experience, including experience developing games and interactive applications
Demonstrated expertise with Unity and a strong understanding of game development principles
Advanced proficiency in C# and experience with additional programming languages such as JavaScript and Python, with the ability to adapt to new programming languages as needed
Experience independently developing game prototypes from concept through implementation
Ability to read, understand, and refactor code efficiently
Experience translating project goals into technical implementation plans and engineering solutions
Experience leading technical decision-making for complex software projects
Demonstrated leadership experience mentoring, coaching, and providing technical guidance to software developers
Experience breaking large projects into technical workstreams, estimating engineering effort, prioritizing and assigning tasks, tracking progress, providing coaching and feedback to ensure timely completion
Ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams, including designers, artists, producers, researchers, and educators
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including writing and maintaining clear documentation
Ability and comfort at moving across domains and mathematically model them into simulations
Experience mentoring interns or early-career developers
Experience building rapid prototypes and creating a culture of experimentation where prototypes are viewed as learning tools rather than miniature products, enabling the team to iterate quickly and discard ideas that are not working
Ability to maintain a regular onsite presence at 1025 W. Johnson Street, Madison, WI multiple days each week, with the specific onsite schedule determined during the interview process based on operational needs

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Game Development, or a closely related field
Experience leading development teams or serving as a technical lead
Experience with mathematical modeling or simulation development
Experience with educational games, serious games, or learning technologies
Experience collaborating in research or academic environments
Experience with audio editing and recording software
Experience establishing engineering best practices, code review processes, and development workflows

Education

Bachelor’s Degree, Computer Science preferred

Institutional Statement on Diversity

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies.

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