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Rocksteady is hiring! Bex Holland, lead recruiter at WB Games, gives us the inside story on the Suicide Squad studio
This article was conducted in December 2021, and first ran in the MCV/DEVELOP January issue.
What differentiates your studio from other developers?
I think that Rocksteady goes beyond just being a game developer. Although making games is what the company’s known for (and is pretty great at!) I think there’s a true care for each individual here; for their happiness, wellbeing and also in wanting to see people advance their careers at Rocksteady, which the outside world doesn’t always get to see. So although they’re most known for being the creator of the Arkham series, Rocksteady is also the home to 250 staff members and the importance of each individual is not taken for granted here.
How many staff are you currently looking to take on?
As we’re gearing up to release Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League later this year we’ve opened up lots of brand-new positions to help finish this super exciting title off! We currently have around 50 open positions across all our disciplines so if you’re a senior engineer looking for your next move, or a graduate artist looking for your first break into the industry we’ve almost definitely got a role open for you.
What perks are available to working at your studio?
We’re very fortunate to have lots of fantastic perks and benefits that come with working at Rocksteady, including private healthcare, dental care, lots of annual leave (about 40 days once you add it all up inc. Bank holidays), flexible working hours, and remote working options. We’re also very fortunate to be part of the Warner Bros. Family which means we get a tonne of extra benefits from being part of this group including private pre-screenings of WarnerMedia films, an employee only screening app (think Netflix but for all Warner films/shows) and, my personal favourite, access to the entire back catalogue of DC Comics!
What should aspiring devs do with their CV to get an interview?
2021 was a really exciting year for us as we opened up a tonne of junior positions, so we’ve actually been talking about this a lot over the last 12 months. The single best piece of advice I can give to graduates starting their job search is to tailor your CV, portfolio, cover letter to the studio you’re applying to. It’s a bit of extra work but it really goes a long way to helping you stand out from the thousands of applicants we have for our junior roles.
How has the pandemic affected recruitment at your studio?
So, as we all know with folks being stuck at home, we’ve seen more and more people playing games, which means as an industry we’ve all been hiring a lot more; we’re seeing much more competition for talent which means we have to become more and more forward thinking to our approach to recruitment. The biggest change we’ve made as a studio has been our approach to remote working; pre-Covid we didn’t really ever consider the possibility of having a global team working remotely from different corners of the Earth but fast forward two (ish) years and we’ve got Rocksteady employees based all over the place!
What is the culture like at your studio?
As Rocksteady employs people from all over the world, the culture is really a combination of everyone’s backgrounds and interests. There are numerous social clubs and events, from yoga to football to board games club for everyone to get involved in and if you’d like to start a club that you have an interest in but doesn’t yet exist, all staff are welcome to do so! Although the pandemic has hampered some in-person celebrations recently, the studio has still celebrated such events as Black History Month with guest speakers throughout the year, as well as a bauble and wreath-making event to celebrate the holidays!
