Norwegian based game publisher/developer Funcom is the latest multinational corporation to take advantage of the tax credits and other provincial government incentives offered to game companies setting up shop in Quebec. Their new Montreal studio was created with help from Investissement Quebec and, according to the CBC, is expected to create 100-150 new jobs in the next 18 months. There are not yet any Montreal specific job postings on Funcom’s website.

Funcom are perhaps best known for their MMORPGs Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. They are currently working on an expansion for Age of Conan and a brand new MMO called The Secret World. Their press release states that this new studio will be involved with both of these projects.

(Via Gamasutra)

 Company: Sitezoogle

Position: Web Developer

Responsibilites and Tasks:
Sitezoogle creates website building tools for niche markets. Thousands of people around the world use our software every day. They are a diverse group, from artists to small businesses to nonprofits. The common thread is that they don’t want the expense of hiring a designer and need higher quality results than what generic website builders provide

Why Work With Us?

• We decided to charge people money for an application they love to pieces. It worked! We’ve been profitable since 2004 and are growing fast, even in this economy.
• We are a small team, so you will play a key role.
• You’ll get to play with the latest web tech (Amazon S3/EC2, jQuery, Ruby)
• We work in a “virtual office”—you can live where you love to be and set your own hours.
• $60k-$80k salary, based on experience.

Required:
We Are Looking For:

• A web developer with 3+ years experience.
• Able to learn, adapt and create clean code regardless of language (we use Coldfusion/Flash/Perl/Ruby/MySQL).
• Comfortable in a Linux/Apache environment.
• Able to work and communicate effectively in a “virtual office”.
• Bonus points for strong CSS and jQuery skills.

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If you’re an user experience specialist, here’s a chance in a lifetime: Akoha, the social gaming startup, is actively looking now for one.

The video explains it very well:

We’re looking for a key User Experience guru to help the passionate team at Akoha take our design skills to the next level. For the right candidate this is the opportunity of a lifetime to join a well-funded, experienced team with a killer idea on the brink of a break-out success. We believe that creating incredible product design expertise throughout the company will be a key component of Akoha’s success and we’ll stop at nothing to ensure we find the right person to lead the charge.

You know you’re the right candidate if you’re a self-proclaimed design-freak. You notice great design everywhere and anywhere. From the simple pen that writes perfectly to the five-star hotel that provides your every whim before you’re even aware of it, designing these experiences makes you as giddy as a schoolgirl. You have a great combination of practical, theoretical and team management experience and has demonstrated the ability to instill a world-class internal design culture.

For more details (job description, compensation, required skills, perks, etc.), see full listings

Company: RedNod

Position: Program manager

Responsibilites and Tasks:

As program manager, you’ll have four responsibilities.

1. Event coordination. This involves working with various organizations to define program content, track down speakers and panelists, maintain a list of industry contacts, and perform research related to those events. It may involve attending 2 or 3 events a year, generally in North America.
2. Editing and blog management. We’re involved in several blogs for both ourselves and our clients. Each needs a publication calendar, content, editing, and maintenance. We’ll be launching other blogs, which may require Wikis, surveys, and other components. Each has analytics that must be digested and acted upon to increase traffic and make the sites easier to use. In particular, the publication of the forthcoming O’Reilly book Complete Web Monitoring will have a web presence that needs creation and maintenance.
3. Writing and research. Bitcurrent has published several studies (on cloud computing and content delivery networks) and continues to create content. Sometimes we sell the content; most of the time, we publish it online for the Internet community. You’re expected to contribute to that content not only by editing it, but by finding things you care about and writing them in conjunction with other members of the team.
4. Content management, storage, and retrieval. We generate a tremendous amount of data, from presentations to audio recordings of interviews, from business contacts to resources and links. This isn’t well organized today, but it needs to be. That means building a content management system that can accept various resources and make the available to Bitcurrent employees and/or outsiders. We’re not going to decide how this will work — that’s your job — but it might consist of a Wiki, a Google Site, a CRM tool, or some combination of them. You’ll be responsible for building, populating, and maintaining this system.

Rednod is based in Montreal, Canada. The company is a “startup accelerator”, helping to plan, build, and launch new ventures with a particular focus on product management and product marketing. Rednod is also the business side of Bitcurrent, a technology research firm that produces events, publishes reports, and writes about emerging technology.

We also work on a range of technology events. We run the annual Bitnorth event, and help to produce Interop, the Enterprise Cloud Summit, Enterprise 2.0, and the SIIA Software Summit. We participate in many other events, including GigaOm’s Structure and Green:NET, Mesh, various DemoCamps, Web2Expo, and eMetrics.

While startup acceleration, event production, and technology research are our three main activities, we’re also actively engaged in new ventures of our own.

More detail at Rednod’s website.

Required:

• Insatiable curiosity: You always want to know why. You believe in “as simple as possible — but no simpler.” You understand things by taking them apart, and then building them back up again. You’re constantly looking things up on Wikipedia, but you check the edit history to gauge how contentious the content is. When you see a graph, the first thing you do is read the axes. You inherently mistrust any graphic printed in USA Today. Despite a desire for the whole story, you still value parsimony.
• Superlative communications skills: You’re a flawless communicator. You read On Writing Well for fun. You’re a fan of Tufte, and the Lessig style of presentations. You know what works, what doesn’t, when to use long sentences, and when to keep them brief. You can’t look at a menu without correcting typoes. You think that Stephen Fry should be in charge of the English Language, but that Stephen Colbert should be Minister of New Words.
• Internet acumen: You have an opinion on whether Reddit, Slashdot, or Digg is better. You have an RSS reader, but subscribe to more feeds than you have time to read — telling yourself you’re a better person for subscribing to them. You’ve built websites to understand how they work, but you’re not a developer. You know Google hacks, like how to find things in a cache after they’ve been deleted. You suffer from social network overload. You know how long Twitter messages are –and why. And you’ve used analytics tools, blogging tools, and Google Analytics. Most of all, you learn new technology quickly.
• Organizational ability: You’re allergic to chaos. You dream in tables and charts. You know what GTD is, but you think it’s a set of suggestions rather than a way to run your life. You struggle with whether to sort your shoes by color, style, or height. You can juggle ten projects at once without letting something slip. You build process diagrams for navigating the local market. Perhaps most importantly, you know how to gently but firmly impose that organization on others, and to summarize complex information for quick consumption.
• An analytical mind: While you don’t have to be a statistician, you should want to analyze everything. The answer to doubt is analysis — whether that’s a spreadsheet, some web analytics data, or a survey. You know that the only way to improve something is to measure it, whether that’s a website, an Internet meme, or your own job performance.
• An eye for design: You don’t need to know how to design, but you need to recognize good or bad design — and give objective feedback to designers. You should be familiar with image editing, cropping, and adjustment tools, and with annotating presentations and PDF documents for feedback.
• A desire to change the world gently: We fervently believe that technology is rewiring humanity. The advent of accessible global digital communications is transforming our species, from how we do our jobs to how we fall in love, from how we learn to how we think. In a few short years, an Internet failure will feel like a stroke: We’ll have lost faculties we take for granted, and won’t know how to cope. While these might seem light lofty, high-minded thoughts, we have to ease ourselves into this transformation. Bitcurrent touches on many of the touchpoints between humans and technology, from public policy to web interfaces to cloud computing to mobility. It’s a fascinating place, to work and think, and you should want to spend time there.
• A thick skin: Humans make mistakes. Those mistakes are amplified when everyone’s working on a dozen things, traveling constantly, and using short-form, impersonal messages to stay in touch. To survive this, you need a thick skin and an allergy for drama. You need to say what you feel, then move on. Most of all, you need to assume that everyone else in the company has the company’s best interests at hand, until you have reason to think otherwise. This is a critical skill when working in any startup, but it’s particularly true here.
• A bias for action: Most of all, you must want to create change. Sitting still isn’t an option. You must be the kind of person who sends the first mail, organizes the event, puts the stake in the ground. Some people wait for external triggers to get them started; in this position, you are the trigger. There won’t be much coaching here, so you’ll need to ask for forgiveness instead of permission much of the time.

How to apply:

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Company: Jezam Interactive

Position: Flash Ninja

Responsibilites and Tasks:

We are a small startup that works in the field of interactive digital signage and we are looking for a Flash actionscript guru (versions 2 & 3), with XML and databasing experience. You must be willing to work under the preset guidelines of our software architect, as well as autonomously on other projects for interactive multimedia and web. This is a part-time contract position with the possibility to grow with a young company. Experience or curiosity with Adobe Air and Flex a plus.

We offer office space with a fantastic view on Plateau, the opportunity to play with nice toys and to take Flash development elsewhere.

If you are interested, please send your CV to mike@jezaminteractive.com.

Cheers!

Required:

• 1-3 years of Flash experience
• XML schema experience
• DB knowlegeable
• Keen graphic eye
• Willing to learn
• Want to have fun

How to apply:

mike@jezaminteractive.com.

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Gamasutra and GameDaily BIZ are reporting that Edmonton-based BioWare is expanding to Montreal. BioWare is best known for their wildly successful roleplaying games, such as Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect. Last year the company was acquired by Electronic Arts.

This new BioWare Montreal team will consist of approximately 30 people, with half of those being brought in from Edmonton. They will be supporting the Edmonton studio in development of Mass Effect 2, due for release in early 2010. There are already a few job postings on BioWare’s Montreal jobs page, with more likely to follow in the coming weeks and months.

Barring any further global financial disasters, I fully expect this ‘expeditionary force’ to eventually grow into a full-fledged studio, working on its own games independent of both EA and BioWare Edmonton. For the time being, however, they are taking a very cautious and thrifty approach, by starting small and moving into EA Montreal’s offices to take advantage of their existing infrastructure.

First published at TechEntreprise:

Télé-Ressources Ltée (Les Services de placement) is a staffing firm in Montreal.  We are currently looking for a Facebook App developer to create a French game application based on words.  We have an idea for an application but we are also open to other’s inputs, thus the project has a lot of room for creativity.

You can contact me on

Facebook

twitter.com/alphonseha

or e-mail: alpha@teleressources.com

Company: EA Montreal

Position: Director of Engineering

Responsibilites and Tasks:

As Director of Engineering at EA Mobile Montreal, you will be responsible of the direct management and support of a group of software developers (software engineers) assigned to multiple teams and projects. You will be expected to work closely with lead software developers and department leaders to ensure that games are delivered on time and on budget while meeting high quality standards. You will also be responsible of improving the department’s productivity while nurturing a strong development team.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the technical implementation and estimates of projects.

• Work with lead software developers and other leaders to validate important technical decisions, identify and mitigate technical risks and solve problems encountered along projects.

• Lead the improvement and application of software development processes, standards and good practices.

• Maintain regular meetings with other studio leaders to share ideas, improve communication and work flow between departments.

• Interact with senior studio management to gain a good understanding of long‐term objectives for the studio and adjust short‐term objectives to match.

• Collaborate with the technology team to drive the development of libraries/ tools targeted towards boosting efficiency of production and quality of products.

• Ensure diffusion of technical expertise through projects and teams.

• Coach and mentor software developers, guide their professional development and oversee performance reviews.

• Develop processes to handle growth and hire the right people needed to make the team successful.

• Create a positive, forward‐focused and rewarding work environment.

• Emphasize project goals and maintain core focus.

Required:

• Experience as a Director of Engineering, Technical Director or Engineering Manager within a videogame developer/publisher.

• Solid grasp of C/C++ and Java.

• Proactive and creative problem solver.

• Good communication, management, and documentation skills.

• Self motivated with a strong work ethic.

• Desire to participate actively in growing a strong development house in a new and rapidly expanding market.

Assets:

• Experience in Web Development.

• Ability to communicate in both English and French.

How to apply:

Jeff Goldstein

jgoldstein@ea.com

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Culture Café (culturecafe.com) is a social media startup allowing people interested in connecting with a cultural heritage, but living in a place where this culture is not dominant, to find other people and resources from that culture. The goal of Culture Café is to become the most recognized brand on the web for obtaining cultural information by location and connecting to people with similar interests. Culture Café, Inc. is based in Montreal and the site is currently in beta. 

We are currently searching for an exceptional Front End Developer based in Montreal to help us in the redesign of Culture Café. We are considering candidates on either a full time or contract basis.   

Mandatory skills & experience:

• Expertise and mastery of Photoshop
• 3 years programming in Javascript
• Expertise and mastery of HTML and CSS
• Expertise and mastery of creating semantically correct HTML documents
• Experience working in small teams or for small companies
• Strong web application development skills and experience
• Strong internal team related communication skills
• Customer service communication skills 
  

Optional skills & experience:

• 3 years Web application programming, especially in PHP
• Strong knowledge of database design (Oracle, Postgres, MySQL)
• Highly skilled in at least 3 or more of the following web programming languages: Perl, C++, Python, Java, AJAX, Ruby on Rails, Actionscript

 
Candidates should possess the following characteristics:

• Self motivated and self reliant
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills
• Disciplined and well-organized  
  

Culture Café, Inc. offers an exciting and dynamic entrepreneurial work environment. To apply, please send your resume to info@culturecafe.com.

 
*Candidates will be required to provide at least two references from previous employers.  
*Candidates will be required to complete a code test and/or to bring code samples that they can discuss.  

Only candidates who have matching criteria will be contacted.

Company: Marketing.980

Position: Developer ASP.NET

Responsibilites and Tasks:
Your role will consist of:
•Working on various projects involving the latest technologies, mostly web-related
•Implement reliable and scalable software solutions dealing with important amounts of
data and transactions
•Integrating new technologies and third party components
•Support and improve existing systems with new services and components

Required Knoweledge:
•Strong communication skills.
•Good command of the English language.
•Creative and autonomous with the maturity to see the value in the existing environment
and work to improve it.
•Flexibility to work in a highly fluid environment where requirements evolve on a daily
basis.
•An obsession with application reliability as downtime directly impacts our bottom line.
TECHNICAL SKILLS REQUIRED
•At least 4 years in software systems development
•At least 3 years of experience in web development, both client and server side
•Good knowledge of object-oriented designs

Experience with the following technologies:
C# and the .NET Framework 2.0
ASP.NET 3.5 technologies such as LINQ is a plus
SQL Server 2005 and ADO.NET
Web services
.Understanding of “n-tiers” architectures
•Visual Studio 2008 and Team Foundation Server knowledge is a must

Additional info:
Marketing.980 is a rapidly expanding Canadian company specializing in the sports marketing industry. Our head office is situated in Toronto and we are presently staffing our new office in the heart of downtown Montreal. We specialize in IT, Web development and design, content providing and online and direct marketing. If you are an IT professional who meets or exceeds the criteria below, then we can offer a top notch compensation package, company funded group insurance , flex-hours, paid sick days, a great atmosphere, as well as a well appointed lounge/leisure area. We are looking for senior ASP.NET developers with strong development skills to join our growing business technologies team. Communication ability, business sense and multi tasking are absolute musts as you will be interacting heavily with business requests from multiple departments.

How to apply:
If you qualify and are ready for an enjoyable and rewarding challenge, please send your CV to

hr-montreal@980marketing.com

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