EA Hiring at Unknown Waterloo Office

By Paul Hunter

Electronic Arts Canada is looking to expand it's Canadian presence with a mysterious job posting surfacing last month for a new office located in Waterloo, Ontario.

Gamasutra approached EA Canada to gather more information on this new outpost and was told it's a "small office in Ontario that is focused on supporting our online initiatives."

EA's decision to settle in Ontario is likely linked to the province's recently unveiled aggressive tax credits to promote the interactive industry. The 2009 Ontario budget is aimed at improving the province's competitive edge in the interactive marketplace, and proposed over $100 million annually in additional tax relief.

The new job posting, which can be found on Interactive Ontario's website, states that EA is looking for a "User Experience Designer to lead the design and prototyping of applications for online games, community features and e-commerce transactions for our new social gaming platform."

The description does make mention that the new role will be responsible for leading the design for EA's social gaming platform for the web, iPhone and other potential platforms, meaning this is likely a PC and mobile focused position. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, especially when you consider that Waterloo is a hotbed for IT investment with the University of Waterloo fueling the local area.