Game Design Director (Creative Director)

As a Game Design Director (Creative Director) for Angry Birds Friends, you will take a central role in shaping the creative vision and direction of the game. Partnering closely with the Game Lead and the leadership team, you’ll be responsible for overseeing the holistic player experience. Your focus will span design, art, UX, and other player-facing elements to ensure an engaging and delightful experience for our players while meeting business goals.

The team is located in Espoo and Barcelona. We work in a hybrid model working from the office 2 days a week. If you are currently not based in Espoo or Barcelona, we’d be happy to provide you relocation support.

You will have impact and fun at work by doing:

• Collaborating on the Vision and Strategy: Work closely with the Game Lead to align on the game’s vision, strategy, and roadmap, ensuring shared goals and language for a unified direction.
• Owning the Creative Vision: Define and execute the game’s long-term creative strategy, including concept, gameplay, UX, narrative, art, and other core elements.
• Inspiring and Leading Teams: Mentor and inspire creative team members across all crafts, driving innovation, design excellence, and alignment with player and business needs.
• Promoting Transparency: Clearly communicate objectives, vision, and strategy to all stakeholders, ensuring visibility and alignment throughout production.
• Facilitating Innovation: Challenge existing practices and encourage new methodologies to foster smart innovation within the team.
• Balancing Workload and Priorities: Collaborate with senior production to align creative workloads with project goals and timelines while maintaining team health.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Support PMs and Analytics with A/B testing, feature development, and events to drive growth and enhance the player experience.
• Collaborating Across Functions: Work closely with PM, UA, and PMM to align creative strategies with player promises and marketing objectives.
• Market Awareness: Monitor market trends and competition to identify opportunities and ensure the game’s competitiveness and longevity.
• Sharing Knowledge: Collaborate with other studio leaders and designers to share insights, foster collaboration, and align efforts across teams.

Experience and skills we are looking for:

• Leadership in Mobile Games: Several years of experience leading design in successful mobile F2P puzzle games.
• Comprehensive Design Skills: Experience across all areas of game design, including systems, economy, narrative, levels, UX, and social features.
• Creative Vision and Execution: A proven track record of owning and executing creative strategies from concept to global launch.
• Live Game Operations: Experience operating live games and working with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., PM, Analytics, Development).
• Market and Competitive Analysis: Strong ability to analyze markets, identify trends, and ensure game differentiation and longevity.
• Player and Business Alignment: Expertise in connecting player motivations with business goals to drive retention, engagement, and monetization.
• Prototyping and Conceptualizing: Strong skills in ideating, prototyping, and validating new game concepts and features.
• Data-Driven Insights: Ability to leverage data to identify opportunities, address challenges, and validate hypotheses.
• Communication and Presentation: Excellent skills in showcasing new ideas and fostering collaboration across teams.

We welcome applicants to use the name they want to be addressed by in the application form, regardless of whether it is their legal name.

At Rovio, we are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities or special needs in our working environment and job application procedures. We are committed to continuously improving workplace accessibility. If you have any questions before applying, please write to us at recruitment@rovio.com .