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Creative Lead

Niantic, creator of Ingress, Pokémon GO, and Pikmin Bloom, is seeking an experienced Creative Lead for Tokyo Studio to lead UX team to help shape cutting-edge, highly social AR experiences and innovative apps that move people through the real world. We’re a fast-moving, multi-disciplinary team of software developers and creative professionals based. You will be responsible for designing intuitive UI, creating interaction flows, and helping guide the direction of the products to merge the virtual with the real world and to encourage players to experience adventures on foot.

Responsibilities

• Define, communicate and be accountable for the creative vision of the project including the core loop, F2P mechanics, social features and IP development.
• Ensure the project backlog is well-defined and understood.
• Work with the design team to create robust design documentation.
• Foster positive relationships with other leaders of the studio and within Niantic to deliver on the vision.
• Represent the projects and team to senior leaders, championing the team's needs and requirements.
• Distill the business’s strategic and commercial goals for the team, ensuring they are reflected in product and organizational decisions.
• Take the lead on producing pitch materials for internal presentations.
• Collaborate and align with Marketing to build commercial analysis, shape forecasts and drive successful marketing and user acquisition campaigns.
• Define and drive design standards for the team.
• Provide strong leadership and career mentorship to support the creative goals and ambitions of the design team members.
• Collaborate with cross-functional team members and stakeholders, including regular and reliable attendance and participation in meetings.
• Required in-office 3 days on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Qualifications

• An experienced Creative Director or Design Director with a proven track record in creating and maintaining design direction, and bringing it to fruition.
• Strong understanding of free-to-play systems and economy design, validated by commercially successful products.
• Mobile games or other mobile product experience in all production phases from Concept to Live Operations, having shipped at least one title.
• Demonstrated experience in building, leading and mentoring teams.
• Adept at providing the support and space for team members to work with appropriate autonomy while creating a coherent design that aligns with your vision.
• Strong at providing feedback that empowers team members to produce their best work.
• Experience communicating a game vision to teams and partners.
• Skilled at developing productive relationships with peers and senior leaders, enabling you to work through complex situations to drive projects forward.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication ability in both English and Japanese, with an emphasis on clearly explaining reasoning behind decisions.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced hybrid environment and handle stress appropriately and/or ability to solve practical problems and be sufficiently adaptable to handle dynamic situations with little advance notice.
• Experience working on cross-functional teams with ability to communicate effectively through written and verbal communications, including synchronous interactions with others.

Plus If...

• You have experience working on emerging hardware, augmented reality or location-based products.
• You are excited to work with novel game mechanics and pioneering technology.

Join the Niantic team!

Niantic is the world’s leading AR technology company, sparking creative and engaging journeys in the real world. Our products inspire outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interaction.

Originally formed at Google in 2011, we became an independent company in 2015. Some of our current consumer titles include pioneering global-control game Ingress, record-breaking AR game Pokémon GO, and Pikmin Bloom. In November 2021, we launched our developer platform, Lightship, enabling creators to build immersive AR experiences around the globe. Our basketball universe has come to life, as we recently launched one of the most innovative sports games ever, in partnership with the NBA. NBA ALL-World is now live and playable globally! Niantic is an Equal Opportunity employer.

We believe that cultivating a workplace where our people are supported and included is essential to creating great products our community will love. Our mission emphasizes seeking and hiring diverse voices, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the technology industry, and we consider this to be one of the most important values we hold close.

Niantic is a hybrid first company. We believe that in person interaction and collaboration fosters creativity, a sense of community, and is critical to our future success as a company. Our hybrid work schedules allow for a mix of remote and in-office work.

We're a hard-working, fun, and exciting group who value intellectual curiosity and a passion for problem-solving! We have growing offices located in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Bellevue, Los Angeles, Kansas, New York, Miami, London, Tokyo, Hamburg, Hyderabad, and Zurich. #LI-HYBRID