Julian (Jules) Davis

Julian (Jules) Davis

CTO & Founder at Focal Point VR Ltd

Supervisor CTO / 29 yrs

Guildford, United Kingdom

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Engineering Director

Fable Legends (2015)

Engineering Director

Fable: The Journey (2012)

Technical Director

London (2006)

Technical Director

Battalion Wars (2005)

Technical Director

Call of Duty (2003)
I am a commercially astute board level CTO / Engineering Manager with extensive product development and strategic capability in video games, mobile and graphics industries. I’ve built and shipped more than 20 games as well as games middleware and a frequent update multiplayer game as a service with teams of up to 200 with 5 - 75 programmers.

I love to work in a collaborative team delivering a product or technology that I can get excited about and use that energy to enthuse and direct a team and engage with partners/customers. As a manager I aim to be a force multiplier and advocate for a team, building clear priorities and removing friction. I frame problems so that people can solve them.

I’m a highly adaptable, creative problem solver with a pragmatic results-oriented attitude focused on achieving best outcome for team members, stakeholders and customers.

Expertise:

● Recruiting, mentoring and developing teams
● Test driven development and agile project management
● Shipping games and middleware for console, PC and mobile
● Game and graphics technology and tools (including Unreal 4)
● Driving change to culture and process within an organisation
● Free to play and games as a service
♦ Multiplayer/social games with a backend service that updates frequently
● Managing company operations and IT
● Pitching and evangelising concepts and products

Accomplishments:

● Fable Legends from concept to CB2 updating every 2 weeks (Xbox One and Windows 10)
● Setting up Geomerics Ltd and creating Enlighten real-time lighting technology
♦ Used in Battlefield 3 & 4, Medal of Honor Warfighter...
♦ Geomerics has since been sold to ARM
● Part of team that floated Kuju on AIM and raised multiple rounds of funding for Geomerics
● Building and shipping more than 20 games including:
♦ Fable Anniversary, Call of Duty (Multiplayer), Train Simulator
♦ Warhammer 40k: Fire Warrior
Work History

  • Technology Consultant

    Tenshi Ventures

    June 2015 - Present

    Tenshi Ventures is a small investment and management company

  • CTO

    Focal Point VR

    June 2015 - June 2017

  • Engineering Director (CTO)

    Lionhead Studios

    July 2012 - February 2015

    I was recruited as Engineering Director to restructure, scale and manage the engineering team at Lionhead and help drive change in culture: making the shift to agile development and games as a service.

  • Technical Director / Consultant

    Tenshi Ventures (Playfuel)

    December 2010 - July 2012

    Tenshi Ventures is an investment and management company, I worked with the owners in a variety of roles.

    ● Acted as non-exec advisor to games and technology start-ups. Recommending business strategy, providing market knowledge, assisting with business development and guidance on development and operational matters
    ● Reviewed and made proposals for business, marketing and development plans for new ventures and investment opportunities
    ● Part of executive team setting up of Playfuel and Tenshi Consulting as well as taking on a variety of contracts on consulting team (see projects)

  • CTO

    Geomerics Ltd

    December 2005 - November 2010

    Helped found Geomerics to develop practical games technology from advanced research supported by strong academic relationships. Established company strategy, built relations with industry partners, recruited team and worked with them to develop cutting edge lighting technology and tools.

    ● Developed scalable real-time radiosity solution (Enlighten) suitable for use in this generation of consoles and successfully sold/integrated it into AAA games
    ● Helped direct and build lighting in Frostbite 2 for Battlefield 3 based on Enlighten and now being used across multiple titles with EA
    ● Updated core lighting capabilities and tools within Unreal 3 to greatly improve artist productivity and visual quality
    ● Working with Square-Enix in Japan on a new IP requiring unique lighting capabilities within Unreal
    ● Building a custom version of Geomerics' lighting technology to run on CUDA
    ● Built world-class technology team combining strong games industry capability with academic excellence
    ● Positioned Geomerics for partner exit (sold to AMD in 2013)

  • Technical Director

    Kuju Entertainment

    December 1995 - December 2005

    Part of team that built Kuju from 15 people to 250 staff in 6 studios across 4 locations (Zoe Mode, Headstrong, Chemistry, Godalming). Role required many different hands on and management responsibilities, including:

    ● Ran core technology team developing shared tools and cross-platform engines. Targeted PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PS1, Windows (from Game SDK to Direct X 10) and PSP. Supported more than 20 games over the life time of one engine
    ● Managed the Godalming and London studios, driving up game quality and more predictable delivery of milestones in games such as Battalion Wars and Call of Duty (Console multiplayer)
    ● Directed the building of Kuju's network game technology used in multiple online titles
    ● Created and rolled-out of company-wide development standards and processes
    ● Matrix management of senior programmers
    ● Due diligence on projects to detect problems and find solutions, sometimes joining teams to support lead programmer or solve specific technical problems
    ● Built console launch demos for both Sony and Microsoft
    ● Game pitching, sales and purchasing

  • Development Lead

    Intelligent Micro Systems Ltd

    October 1989 - December 1995

    Lead on real-time multi-tasking operating system development team

  • Systems Programmer

    Tetra Business Systems

    January 1986 - October 1989
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Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Systems Engineering, 1st

    University of Sussex

    1986 - 1989