External Development Manager

What we do

Whether it’s driving a vision from start to finish or collaborating with teams to inspire and deliver projects of Epic quality, Epic’s production teams take pride in consistently delivering world-class products and experiences.

What You'll Do

In this role, you’ll partner with Epic team leads to scope, negotiate, and manage external development needs for internal projects. You’ll oversee vendor relationships, contracts, onboarding, and quality management while identifying opportunities to streamline external workflows. A strong understanding of vendor management, cross-functional collaboration, and data tracking will help ensure successful partnerships across multiple teams.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with Fortnite team leads to understand, determine, and deliver on external development needs and to scope, negotiate, and set objectives with external partners for Epic First Party projects
• Manage external partner relationships, including contracts, onboarding, and invoicing
• Manage appropriate contracts and invoice approvals, onboarding and handoff to Epic’s internal teams, and resource ramp up for external teams
• Perform vendor quality reviews with internal teams and manage external partner communications and performance feedback
• Contribute to sourcing and evaluation of new external development partners for Fortnite First Party teams
• Quickly develop a deep understanding of the lifecycle of a request and contract pipeline
• Become familiar with procurement, legal, and financial processes related to vendor management at Epic Games.
• Quickly become familiar with tools involved in External Development processes; including but not limited to, Jira, Airtable, VNDLY, and Coupa.
• Submit SOW renewals, new contracts, and amendments to Legal
• Emphasis: Environment Art, 2D & 3D Cosmetics Art, Design, and Engineering
• Gather documentation to facilitate budget approvals with Finance and Epic stakeholders
• Assist in resolving contract-related questions from vendors and internal teams.
• Collaborate and maintain strong relationships with Epic Creative Leads

Qualifications:

• 5+ years experience in external development, outsourcing management, or vendor-facing production roles, preferably on AAA games
• Strong understanding of the game development process, with experience integrating multiple external partners into large-scale projects
• Proven ability to manage external relationships across time zones and cultures, with a focus on collaboration, efficiency, and high-quality delivery
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, with the ability to juggle multiple vendors, priorities, and timelines simultaneously