Roles · XR Unity Developer · Lead

What a Lead } should know

37 core skills, 54 in total. Expectations per skill, and what changes at the next level.

This page lists what a Lead } is expected to know and do, skill by skill. Core skills are the ones a manager and peers assess in a review cycle; the rest count only in self-assessment. Main areas: Programming Fundamentals, Testing & QA, Version Control & Collaboration.

37core skills
17additional skills
6skill areas
100%at Advanced or Expert
Assess myself as Lead Full role matrix

Core skills for a Lead

Grouped by area. The label on the right is the expected depth: Awareness, Working, Advanced or Expert.

Programming Fundamentals · 8

Reviews algorithmic decisions of XR team. Defines performance standards for algorithms.

Defines async code standards for XR. Establishes approaches to streaming and dynamic loading.

Defines data structure usage standards. Reviews data structure decisions for XR.

Establishes pattern catalog for XR team. Reviews pattern application.

Defines memory budget for XR project. Establishes memory management standards. Introduces automated memory profiling.

Defines threading strategy for XR project. Establishes multi-threaded code standards. Reviews threading decisions.

Defines architectural approaches for Unity XR projects. Conducts architectural reviews. Mentors.

Testing & QA · 2

Defines integration testing strategy. Coordinates cross-platform testing. Establishes quality gates.

Unit Testing Expert

Establishes testing culture. Defines coverage targets. Introduces testing in CI.

Version Control & Collaboration · 2

Code Review Expert

Defines code review process. Conducts architectural reviews. Establishes guidelines.

Git Advanced Expert

Defines Git strategy for Unity XR project. Configures CI hooks. Establishes policies.

Game Development · 9

Defines animation pipeline for XR project. Coordinates work between animators and programmers. Establishes animation performance budget.

Defines audio strategy for XR product. Coordinates work with sound designers. Establishes audio quality standards.

Defines networking strategy for XR product. Coordinates multiplayer XR development. Establishes networking performance targets.

Establishes performance culture. Defines budgets for all platforms. Introduces performance regression testing in CI.

Game Physics Expert

Defines physics strategy for XR project. Establishes physics performance budget. Coordinates optimization of physics systems.

Defines rendering strategy for XR project. Establishes GPU budget (draw calls, triangles, shader complexity). Coordinates graphics optimization.

Defines QA strategy for XR product. Coordinates testing across all platforms. Establishes quality gates for XR releases.

Defines XR UX strategy. Coordinates UX research and design. Establishes XR design system. Conducts UX reviews.

Unity Engine Expert

Defines Unity XR project architecture and standards. Establishes CI/CD for Unity XR builds (GameCI). Coordinates Unity version upgrades. Plans migration path.

XR: AR/VR/MR · 12

Defines 3D pipeline standards for Unity XR team. Coordinates work with 3D artists. Establishes asset budgets. Introduces CI validation.

Defines visionOS development strategy on Unity. Coordinates adaptation of existing XR applications for Vision Pro. Establishes testing processes on Vision Pro.

Builds production pipeline for AR content in Unity. Defines asset budgets and quality standards. Coordinates work between 3D artists and Unity developers. Introduces asset validation in CI.

Defines AR strategy for the product on Unity. Coordinates cross-platform AR development (iOS/Android). Establishes AR development standards in Unity. Plans adaptation to new ARKit/ARCore versions.

Defines tracking strategy for AR product on Unity. Establishes tracking quality metrics. Coordinates development of tracking-dependent features. Plans support for various tracking scenarios.

Defines Quest development strategy. Leads Meta Quest Store certification process. Coordinates Quest-specific optimization. Interfaces with Meta Developer Relations.

Defines OpenXR strategy for Unity projects. Coordinates support for OpenXR extensions. Establishes OpenXR best practices in Unity. Interfaces with Unity and vendor teams.

Defines spatial computing strategy for Unity XR product. Coordinates development of spatial features. Establishes spatial feature quality metrics.

Defines input strategy for VR product. Establishes controller mapping standards for all supported devices. Coordinates input system development.

Establishes VR interaction design guidelines for Unity project. Coordinates UX design and VR interaction development. Defines VR interaction quality standards.

Defines locomotion strategy for VR product. Conducts A/B testing of comfort settings. Establishes locomotion guidelines considering accessibility.

Performance Engineering · 4

CPU Profiling Expert

Establishes CPU performance strategy. Introduces automated profiling. Defines CPU budgets.

Defines latency SLA. Establishes optimization strategy. Introduces latency monitoring.

Establishes memory profiling strategy. Introduces regression testing. Defines memory budgets.

Defines resource budgets for all XR platforms. Establishes optimization guidelines. Introduces automated resource monitoring.

Additional skills

Not assessed by the team, but part of the self-assessment and the development plan.

API DocumentationAWSDockerGitHub Actions / GitLab CIKubernetes CoreNetwork FundamentalsOWASP & Application SecurityPostgreSQLPrometheus & GrafanaPrompt Engineering for CodeRedisREST API DesignSecure Coding PracticesStructured LoggingSystem Design FundamentalsChatGPT / ClaudeGitHub Copilot

What changes at Principal

2 skills get a higher expectation or become core when moving from Lead to Principal. The biggest jumps first.

See the Principal page →
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} in the open competency matrix: 54 skills across 5 levels. The matrix is free for individuals and stays free.