Website Grendel Games
Are you a master of organization who finds beauty in a well-structured backlog? Do you thrive on transforming complex development hurdles into clear, actionable paths? Grendel Games is seeking an Associate Producer to join our Operations team. In this role, you will be the glue that holds our development cycles together, ensuring that our ambitious Serious Games move from concept to reality with precision and purpose.
Job Overview: Associate Producer
| Category | Details |
| Company Name | Grendel Games |
| Job Title | Associate Producer |
| Employment Type | Full-Time (40 Hours per week) |
| Location | Leeuwarden, Netherlands (Hybrid: 2 days remote) |
| Salary Range | Competitive / Aligned with market standards |
| Primary Toolset | ClickUp, Agile/Scrum Methodologies |
| Reporting To | Senior Producer |
| Core Mission | Process optimization, risk mitigation, and team alignment |
About Grendel Games: Engineering Meaningful Play
Based in a uniquely repurposed historic prison in Leeuwarden, Grendel Games is far from a traditional corporate environment. For over 20 years, we have pioneered the Serious Games movement. We believe that the mechanics of play can be harnessed to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Our portfolio spans across:
- Healthcare: Developing rehabilitative games that make physical therapy engaging.
- Sustainability: Creating simulations that drive environmental awareness and behavioral change.
- Education: Crafting interactive platforms that revolutionize how complex subjects are taught.
As an Associate Producer, you aren’t just managing tasks; you are managing the delivery of tools that improve lives. You will join a multidisciplinary ensemble of artists, developers, and designers who rely on your organizational expertise to stay focused on what they do best: creating.
The Role: Orchestrating the Development Symphony
The Associate Producer at Grendel Games serves as the bridge between high-level project goals and daily execution. You will work in lockstep with the Senior Producer and the CEO to ensure that our development “machine” is well-oiled, transparent, and resilient to the unpredictable nature of game production.
Your day-to-day is about clarity. In a studio where multiple projects are often running in parallel, you are the one who ensures every developer knows what their “Definition of Done” is and that every stakeholder knows exactly where a project stands.
Key Responsibilities
1. Backlog & Sprint Management
- Hygiene & Structure: Maintain a meticulously organized backlog. You will ensure tasks are not just present, but clearly defined, properly tagged, and logically linked.
- Sprint Preparation: Lead the “pre-game” for our sprints. This involves identifying dependencies across disciplines (e.g., ensuring a developer isn’t waiting on an art asset that hasn’t been scheduled) so that sprint planning sessions are efficient and decisive.
- Tool Advocacy: Take ownership of our production environment in ClickUp, ensuring it remains a “single source of truth” for the entire studio.
- 2. Blockers & Risk Management
- Early Intervention: Act as the “early warning system” for the studio. You will identify technical or scheduling bottlenecks before they become critical failures.
- Escalation: Know when to raise the red flag to leadership regarding scope creep or missed deadlines.
- Mitigation Strategy: Support the Senior Producer in brainstorming workarounds when a risk threatens a delivery milestone.
3. Execution & Follow-up Support
- Accountability: Ensure every task has a clear owner. You are the champion of the “What, Who, and When.”
- Action Tracking: After planning sessions or retrospectives, you capture the “gold”—the key action items—and ensure they don’t get lost in the post-sprint shuffle.
- Milestone Readiness: Assist the team in prepping for external milestones or testing phases, ensuring all administrative and organizational boxes are checked.
4. Project Planning & Reporting
- Timeline Integrity: Assist in maintaining long-term project roadmaps, ensuring that the team’s capacity matches the project’s ambition.
- Concise Reporting: Provide management with high-level updates. You should be able to distill a week of complex development into a brief report highlighting progress, risks, and required decisions.
- Coordination: Serve as the point of contact for non-content-related coordination between the “engine room” (dev team) and “the bridge” (management/sales).
What We Are Looking For
We are looking for a professional who views organization as a creative discipline. You are the type of person who finds satisfaction in a perfectly categorized spreadsheet and a “zero-blocker” morning.
Required Qualifications:
- Process Mastery: You have a deep understanding of Agile and Scrum methodologies and know how to apply them flexibly to creative environments.
- Organizational Prowess: You can track dozens of moving parts, dependencies, and risks simultaneously without losing the “big picture.”
- Communication: Fluent English is essential. You must be able to communicate clearly, whether you’re writing a technical ticket or presenting an update to the CEO.
- Proactive Mindset: You don’t wait to be told there is a problem; you go looking for them so they can be solved early.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Industry Experience: Prior experience in game development or software production is a significant advantage.
- Software Expertise: Direct experience with ClickUp is preferred, but expertise in Jira, Monday.com, or Asana is a great foundation.
- Serious Games Passion: A genuine interest in how games can be used for education and social good.
What We Offer
- Impactful Work: Your contribution directly supports projects that teach, heal, and inspire.
- Professional Growth: We provide an annual personal development budget specifically for your growth. Want to get Scrum Master certified? We’ve got you covered.
- Autonomy: We operate with a flat hierarchy. You are trusted to organize your own work and take ownership of your processes.
- The Environment: Our studio is located in the Blokhuispoort, a historic prison turned cultural hub. It is a relaxed, innovative, and visually stunning place to work.
- Hybrid Balance: While we value the energy of being in the studio, we offer the flexibility to work remotely two days a week.
A Deep Dive into Production at Grendel
To understand the scale of this role, one must understand the complexity of Serious Games. Unlike traditional entertainment games, our projects often have “External Domain Experts”—doctors, professors, or scientists.
As an Associate Producer, you will often find yourself coordinating between:
The Internal Team: Artists, Coders, and Designers working on the core mechanics.
The External Experts: Ensuring their feedback is translated into actionable dev tasks.
The End User: Ensuring the project remains accessible and effective for its purpose.
Your role is to ensure that the “Vision” (defined by Sales and the CEO) and the “Reality” (the daily code and art) are always in sync. You are the custodian of the project’s health.
How to Apply
If you are a structured thinker who wants to work at the forefront of interactive technology, we want to hear from you.
Application Requirements:
- Professional Resume: Highlighting your experience with project management tools and methodologies.
- Cover Letter: Explain a time you identified a project risk and how you mitigated it.
- References: Ideally from a creative or technical lead you have supported in the past.
At Grendel Games, we are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diverse world our games serve. We encourage applications from all backgrounds.
To apply for this job please visit grendelgames.com.