DEVELOP/JOBS: Frontier Developments – “Everyone was so friendly and supportive that I settled in fast”

This content was created in association with Frontier Developments as part of DEVELOP/JOBS 2021.

An independent developer and publisher with a legacy of much-loved titles for PC and consoles over the last 27 years, Frontier are passionate about creating authentic worlds through innovative, genre-leading games.

Frontier are based in the world-leading technology cluster and historic city of Cambridge. With a growing team of over 600 talented people, (they have hired about 230 people since the first lockdown!), they offer the chance to create and nurture enduring genre-leading games in a collaborative studio environment. They have achieved serial successes across a wide variety of titles including Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Zoo.

With numerous openings across a wide range of disciplines, Frontier are continuing to grow their team to support their existing portfolio and an exciting and ambitious future roadmap, which includes the development of both own-IP titles and licensed-IP titles, including Formula 1 and Games Workshop (Warhammer). They are also growing their team to support the expansion of Frontier Foundry, their games label for publishing games developed by carefully selected partner studios.

Joining Frontier means the chance to work with talented and passionate people, developing and publishing sophisticated and enduring games in a creative and collaborative environment. Frontier rewards passion and determination by sharing in the company’s success and by supporting their teams to keep doing what they love.

Location(s): Cambridge, UK

Team size: 620

Key projects [and/or key hiring areas]: Programming, Art, Animation, UI, Design, Audio, Production, QA, Publishing, Operations.

Recruitment contact: Rob Senior, Head of Talent, rsenior@frontier.co.uk

FROM THE TEAM: MEGAN BROWN, PROGRAMMER

My name’s Megan and I’m a gameplay programmer at Frontier. I joined Frontier on an internship, and have now been working here for over three years. In that time I’ve learnt a huge amount while working with some incredible people. Before I started here I couldn’t really code at all, but thankfully Frontier must have seen some potential and took a chance on me! When I arrived I was pretty nervous, but everyone was so friendly and supportive that I settled in fast.

That really helped me make it through the initial steep learning curve and come out the other side as a programmer working alongside the amazingly talented team on Planet Zoo. They helped train me and were always there for me, whether it was for a rant about a bug, a step-by-step code review, or even just a cup of coffee and a chat. Now I’m a full-fledged programmer with a love for what I do. No day is ever the same, and you’re never quite sure what challenges you’ll come up against – which is just how I like it!

FROM THE TEAM: CHRIS MARSH, PRINCIPAL ANIMATOR

Frontier is great at fostering and growing talent. I started working as a Graduate Animator here in 2011 and in that time I’ve been given all of the opportunities that I needed to work my way up to Principal Animator. As animators, we are spoiled by the variety of projects that Frontier develops.

In my time here I’ve been lucky enough to be able to stretch myself as an animator across a huge range of wildly different projects; from epic, cinematic space battles in Elite: Dangerous, to the zany mascots in Planet Coaster, to the naturalistic creature work for the animal kingdom in Planet Zoo and the dinosaurs of Jurassic World Evolution. We have some really exciting projects in the pipeline and we’re always looking for talented people at a range of experience levels to join us, so be sure to check out our current opportunities.  Frontier is a wonderful environment for animators and game developers of all disciplines to come and grow their skills.

Now Hiring! Just some of the many roles open at Frontier

Gameplay Programmers

You will work across the game team to bring together the design, code and assets we create, and build the game experience that our players will love.

UI Developers

Create compelling and responsive user interfaces that connect our players with our games across multiple platforms.

3D Artists

As a 3D Artist you’ll have the opportunity to create high quality art assets for our games. We have opportunities across a number of our titles.

Character Artists

Our Character Artists produce a wide spectrum of subject matter from stunningly photorealistic to beautifully stylised.

Senior Game Designers

As a Senior Games Designer you will work closely with the Design Lead, playing a key role as an owner of important design aspects for the game.

Producers

Our Producers work closely with our talented development teams to help deliver exceptional new game features and content. We have multiple opportunities across several titles.

Temporary QA Testers

We’re hiring a number of QA Testers to play test, destructively test, regress, create test suites, generate reports and provide general game feedback to aid the internal development teams.

ANIMATORS

Fantastic animation plays a huge part in our success. Your passion for animation will be pivotal to delivering the quality that we strive for in all our games.

Find out more about careers at Frontier Developments.