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Creative Director

With a rich history of developing multiple AAA franchises such as Little Big Planet and Crackdown, as well as contributing to genre-defining titles like the Forza Motorsport and Hitman series, Sumo Sheffield’s vast development experience spans multiple genres and platforms.

As winners of the TIGA Star Employment Award for 2021, recipients of the GI Biz 2020 Best Places to Work Award and listed as one of the UK’s 100 Best Large Companies to Work for in 2021 and 2022, Sumo Digital has enjoyed 20 years of stability and growth since its formation in 2003 and continues to strive for excellence across every single project.

The team have a track record of working on some of the world's biggest and best games and received two BAFTAs for their work on Sackboy: A Big Adventure. As the scale and exclusivity of projects continues to grow, there’s never been a more exciting time to join the Sumo Sheffield family!

We’ve got an exceptional new opportunity for a Creative Director to join the Sumo Sheffield team on a AAA First Person/Third Person Shooter console game! You will be the champion for creative vision whilst ensuring your team is excited, engaged and fully equipped to deliver the best game for our players.

You will undoubtedly be a proactive, enthusiastic and a visionary leader who can leverage the team’s strengths to tackle any creative challenge that arises. Making sure to keep up with current game trends, you will deliver quality, continuity, and consistency whilst advocating for design cohesion and best practice across all elements of the game.

For this role, you will need to be UK based and be able to travel to the Sheffield studio on a bi-weekly basis for creative meetings. Here at Sumo, we support with relocation and Visa requirements for successful applicants from outside of the UK.

Within this role you will:

• Establish a clear and unified creative concept for the game in collaboration with project stakeholders
• Promote cross-discipline collaboration to ensure the creative vision is delivered successfully
• Work with the production team to ensure that the creative vision is achievable with the resource/budget constraints of the game
• Be proactive in your vision and creative endeavours whilst working closely with the Publisher
• Deliver regular creative updates to the key stakeholder team
• Advocate for new trends in game development and how they might be applied to the game
• Define and deliver playtests at all stages of development, creating a strong culture of iteration
• Ensure design cohesion and best practices across the team

We will need you to:

• Have successfully completed a minimum of 3 game cycles
• Have approx. 10 years’ experience in the games industry
• Be in a Creative Director role currently or be an experienced Design Director, Game Director or Art Director in the games industry
• Have the ability to consider technical and manufacturing viability when developing concepts
• Have a strong understanding of all aspects of game design including controls, game-feel, feedback, retention, balance, social mechanics, narrative, usability and on-boarding
• Have excellent organisational, interpersonal, cross-discipline communication and presenting skills
• Have a strong understanding of player psychology and motivations

. Defined Annual Bonus Scheme

. ULEV car scheme

. Monthly allowance to spend on enhancing benefits

. Salary Sacrifice Pension

. Flexible Working

. 21 days free-use holiday

+ your birthday off

+ 5 learning days including 1 volunteer day

+ a duvet day

+ Christmas shutdown from Christmas Eve to New Year

+ Bank Holidays

+ extra allowance accrued for longer service

. Free dental insurance

. Life Assurance 4x Salary

. Income Protection of 75% for 5 years

. Enhanced Mat/Paternity & Adoption pay

. Employee Assistance Programme:

. Help at Hand - Remote GP, Mental Health & Physio appointments

. Free financial & home buying support consultations

. Cycle to Work Scheme

. Payroll Giving Scheme

. Access to 4,000 Udemy Courses

. Career Development Pathway

. Wrap Parties.

. Project Completion Awards

. Game/Creative Jams

. Big Family Events

. Studio social activities, e.g. running, board games, film, yoga, life drawing…

. Prism – Sumo’s employee diversity focus group

. Free fruit and drinks in our studios

. Employee Referral Bonus

At Sumo, we want to enable everyone to bring their full, authentic selves to work every single day. We acknowledge that the games industry is far from perfect and a global organisation with people all over the world, from all kinds of backgrounds, we know it’s part of our duty to provide everyone at Sumo with a safe, accepting and affirming working environment.

We encourage and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Sumo Sheffield is located just outside the city centre in Sumo Digital’s HQ, just off J34 on the M1 and a stone’s throw from the city’s primary shopping and leisure complex. With a multi-building campus comprised of industry-leading facilities, an onsite gym and subsidised canteen, Sumo Sheffield provides everything needed for all teams to create the world’s best games.

Sheffield is the fifth largest city in the UK and is easily accessible by road and rail from Leeds, Manchester and the Midlands. The city enjoys a wealth of facilities to suit a wide array of interests, including:

o World-class sports facilities

o Iconic theatres and galleries

o Multiple retail and shopping experiences

o Diverse and renowned restaurants and eateries

o The award-winning National Video Game Museum

Sumo Digital is an award-winning international family of studios. Recent releases from Sumo Digital studios include: BAFTA-Award winning Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Hood: Outlaws & Legends, Control Ultimate Edition on Google Stadia, Apple Arcade Award-winning Little Orpheus, Hot Shot Racing, WST Snooker and Spyder.