Fishing Cactus est un studio indépendant belge fondé en 2009 et installé à Mons. Depuis plus de quinze ans, nous développons des jeux sur PC, consoles (un peu VR) avec une préférence pour les projets qui ont une identité forte, une personnalité et, si possible, un petit quelque chose qu'on n'a pas déjà vu cent fois.

Nous avons créé nos propres univers, notamment avec Epistory et Nanotale, tout en collaborant avec de nombreux studios, éditeurs et détenteurs de licences. Développement, co-développement, portage console, VR ou co-productions : nous aimons intervenir là où notre expérience technique et notre culture de production peuvent faire la différence.

Fishing Cactus reste organisé autour de plusieurs équipes autonomes et à taille humaine, avec beaucoup de responsabilité individuelle et d'autonomie, peu de couches de management et une approche très pragmatique du développement. Deliver first.

Notre philosophie tient finalement en quelques mots : Smart Games with Soul. Faire des jeux ambitieux sans être prétentieux, professionnels sans devenir trop sérieux.

We're looking for an experienced Game Producer / Business Developer to join Fishing Cactus in Mons, Belgium.
This is a slightly unusual / hybrid role but that's intentional.

Your main job will be to drive game projects from concept to release, working closely with small development teams, clients and publishers.

But we're also looking for someone who enjoys the business side of making games. Between productions, or whenever your project workload allows it, you'll help us find new opportunities, talk to publishers and clients, follow leads and generally help bring the next project into the studio.

In short : someone who can run a project almost like a small studio within the studio, and who is comfortable switching from a production meeting to a business call when needed.

$WHAT YOU'LL DO

As Producer, you'll have ownership of your projects under management steering.

You won't just maintain tickets and ask people if their tasks are finished.

You'll need to understand the game, understand what we're trying to achieve, know where the risks are and help the team make the right calls when reality inevitably gets in the way of the original plan.

You'll be expected to :

• Own one or several PC / console projects from concept to release.
  
• Help define and protect the vision of the game, together with the game designer and development team.
  
• Make sure everyone knows what matters most and why.
  
• Play the game, challenge it and have an opinion about whether it's actually good.
  
• Turn creative ambitions into realistic scopes, milestones, budgets and schedules.
  
• Keep projects moving and make sure commitments and deadlines mean something.
  
• Spot problems early rather than discovering them two days before a milestone.
  
• Help teams find pragmatic solutions when scope, quality, budget and time start fighting each other.
  
• Keep communication flowing between developers, management, clients, publishers and external partners.
  
• Make sure stakeholders are never surprised by either good or bad news.
  
• Know when to stay high-level and when it's time to get your hands dirty and dig into the details like QA, localization integration for - example. You can fill the gaps.
  
• Take responsibility for the overall health of the project : game quality, team efficiency, budget, schedule and partner satisfaction.
  
• Help integrate games on the console backends.
  

At Fishing Cactus, a Producer is both a keeper of the vision and someone accountable for getting the game across the finish line.

$AND WHEN YOU'RE NOT PRODUCING ?

You'll help with business development.

We're not looking for a full-time salesperson wearing a Producer hat. We're looking for a Producer who is comfortable doing business.

That can mean :

• Finding publishers, clients or potential partners we should be talking to.
  
• Reaching out to new prospects and following up existing conversations.
  
• Presenting Fishing Cactus and what we can do.
  
• Pitching our games and our teams.
  
• Joining meetings, industry events and business trips if needed.
  
• Following opportunities through the pipeline instead of letting them disappear in an inbox.
  
• Helping prepare pitches, proposals, budgets and commercial offers.
  
• Understanding what a partner actually needs and figuring out whether we can build something sensible around it.
  
• Supporting discussions around work-for-hire, co-development, co-production and publishing deals.
  
• Keeping relationships alive with people we've already worked with.
  

You don't need to be the stereotypical salesperson. If you understand games, production, people and budgets, can build trust quickly and are comfortable picking up the phone or starting a conversation, you're already a good part of the way there.

• You've already worked in game production and know what a real development cycle looks like. This is unfortunately not a junior / entry level role.
  
• You can look at a game and quickly identify what's working, what isn't and what actually matters.
  
• You're comfortable making priorities clear including saying no when needed.
  
• You know that "everything is important" usually means nothing is.
  
• You can balance creative ambition with the less glamorous realities of budget, people and deadlines.
  
• You're highly autonomous and don't need layers of hierarchy to get things done.
  
• You're comfortable working directly with programmers, artists, designers, clients and executives.
  
• You can motivate people without pretending every production problem can be solved with enthusiasm.
  
• You know when a team needs support, when it needs clarity and when it simply needs a decision or a strict canvas.
  
• You communicate clearly and don't hide problems until they become emergencies.
  
• Your written and spoken English is excellent as most of our partners are international.
  
• You understand the PC and console games market and have a genuine interest in how games are made and how studios pay the bills.
  
• You're comfortable using tools like Excel / Google Sheets, Miro, HacknPlan, Jira, Trello, Notion or whatever tool makes sense for the job.
  
• You're comfortable using AI tools to automate, simplify and accelerate repetitive or mundane tasks.
  

$EXPERIENCE

We're looking for someone who has already had some real responsibility on a game project.

Ideally, you've worked as a Producer, Associate Producer, Project Manager or in a similar role on at least one released PC or console title.

Extra points if :

• You've shipped a console game and know the backends.
  
• You've worked directly with publishers or external clients.
  
• You've managed milestones, budgets and external stakeholders.
  
• You've done some business development, account management, publishing or sales.
  
• You already know your way around the European or international games industry.
  
• You've worked in an independent studio before.
  
• You already have a mental checklist of production mistakes you really don't want to make twice.
  

$THE KIND OF PERSON WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• You like people and you like games. And ideally, you also like getting things done.
  
• You're positive, but pragmatic. You can encourage a team while still being perfectly capable of having an uncomfortable conversation when something isn't working.
  
• You care about the game and people more than your production schedule. You care about the game, the team, the client, the budget and whether the project actually makes sense for the studio.
  
• You're comfortable moving from a discussion about game feel to a budget review, then jumping onto a call with a publisher an hour later.
  
• You naturally take ownership instead of waiting for someone else to fix things.
  
• You enjoy working with small, autonomous teams where your decisions actually matter.
  

And while you genuinely want to make great games, you understand that games still need to ship to pay the bills ; )

$WHERE ?

Our studio is based in Mons, Belgium.
This is a full-time position with partial remote work possible, but we strongly believe that making games is still a collaborative activity and we expect you to spend a meaningful part of your week with the team in the studio.
If you're not based in Belgium today (or close to the BelgiumFrance border), you'll need to be willing to relocate.

$CONTRACT & WHAT WE OFFER

We'll start with a 6-month fixed-term contract, with the intention of moving to a permanent contract afterwards.

We offer :

• A competitive salary based on experience.
  
• A solid benefits package.
  
• Flexible working hours.
  
• Partial remote working.
  
• Work on both our own IPs and established international properties.
  
• Small teams where you'll have real influence over both the game and how it gets made.
  
• Direct contact with publishers, clients and partners rather than five layers of management.
  
• A role that can naturally evolve depending on your strengths across production, product and business development.
  

Send us your CV and tell us, in a few lines, why this slightly unusual Producer / Business Developer role sounds like something you'd enjoy doing. You can get help from AI, just make sure it is genuine, we can spot that.

Links to released games, projects you've worked on, recommendations or anything else that helps us understand what you've actually done are very welcome.

An on-site interview in Mons will be part of the recruitment process.

A l'attention de : Recruitment manager