Design Director
The Gearbox Entertainment Company is an award-winning creator and distributor of entertainment for people around the world. Gearbox Entertainment develops and publishes products through its subsidiaries, Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing. Gearbox Entertainment has become widely known for successful game franchises including Brothers in Arms and Borderlands, as well as acquired properties Duke Nukem and Homeworld. Gearbox’s ambition is to entertain the world and its key driving objectives include the pursuit of happiness for our talent, partners and customers, the prioritization of entertainment and creativity and a measured respect for profitability. For more information, visit www.Gearbox.com .
Gearbox is on the lookout for a talented Design Director to help us build a team around a new, original IP-- Come help us define the future of Gearbox Entertainment franchises! This is a rare opportunity to help build a team for a new initiative from the ground up. In this role you will be asked to build a strong, collaborative, design team capable of creating an exciting new, AAA, franchise, and then managing that team through the lifecycle of the project.
Responsibilities:
- Build a high functioning design department from the ground up, set it up for continued success
- Work your peers in other departments to assemble, lead, and motivate a large team consisting of all aspects of game development; this person sets the example as a leader
- Create and maintain a positive culture across the design team and promote a healthy work/life balance
- Establish project vision working alongside the other project leads, collaborating in all aspects of the creative process
- Motivate, mentor, supervise and support team of designers with clear and consistent direction
- Assist in maintaining milestone and general design schedules with production team
- Responsible for quality of all milestone & deliverables as they relate to the design department
- Use your vision of the ideal customer experience to drive your decision-making
- Write design documents that communicate concepts clearly to multiple disciplines
- Not afraid to roll up your sleeves and be hands-on with design documentation or content creation
Qualifications:
- 10+ years of game development experience, 5+ years of design department leadership
- Shipped one or more AAA title(s) with a Lead or Director credit
- Passion for cultivating healthy teams who are creatively empowered
- Demonstrate an understanding of the state of the industry and customer expectations; analyze and defend your view on what works and what doesn’t work in competing games, where applicable
- Must be proficient in all aspects of game design such as gameplay, balancing, and reward system, etc.
- Extremely creative with a passion for developing video games
- Can balance being creator of the vision vs. the curator; supporting consensus from a talented team of game makers and previously established design goals
- Excellent communicator and team player -- here at Gearbox we thrive on collaboration and working together to meet our project design goals
- A proven ability to express your ideas and vision through presentations, diagrams, and documentation in an inspirational and exciting fashion
- Be able to relocate to Austin, Texas area to join the Gearbox team
Bonus Points For:
- Unreal 4 experience a plus
- A passion for family friendly, cooperative, games
Gearbox Entertainment believes that all team members should be able to enjoy a work environment free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. We are committed to reflecting the diversity of the world we strive to entertain. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we provide fair and equal treatment to all team members and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy or maternity, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state or local law.