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Lead Game Designer, 3rd Party Development - Racing

At NaturalMotion, you will play a key part in building innovative games that wow tens of millions of players around The World. In 2018, we were named one of the Best Places to Work in the UK games industry by gamesindustry.biz, just two of the reasons to join the NaturalMotion success story.

Our Racing Studio - responsible for the CSR Racing franchise - is one of the most ambitious, successful, and creatively inclusive studios in the UK. The team loves welcoming credible talent full of professional pride; ambition; and humility, who want to do the best work of their career.

Job Purpose

We are seeking a Lead Game Designer to join our 3 rd Party Development Team to lead game design on externally developed projects within our racing business.

As Lead Game Designer for 3 rd Party Development you will be responsible for identifying exciting new game ideas and features that have the potential to be a breakout success in the racing market and partnering with external 3 rd party studios to oversee Game Design and ensure that your creative vision is executed to NaturalMotion quality.

Key Responsibilities

Design Vision:

• Lead the design and execution of projects and features developed externally by 3 rd party studios.
• Create fun, intuitive, and elegant game ideas, concepts and features for CSR2 that enable growth and expansion to new audiences.
• Identify, evaluate and prioritise features and projects based on business and player impact using your knowledge of our players, competitor insight and market trends.
• Create impactful decks and documents that that explain and sell your creative vision to internal stakeholders and leadership.
• Write clear and detailed design documentation that communicates your creative vision to external development teams that lays out your expectations for the project or feature.

Oversee Design with 3 rd Party Studios:

• Evaluate game design capability at external third party development studios.
• Onboard Game Designers at external studios to our projects and set them up for success. Mentor teams, provide support, game expertise and show them what good game design looks like. Set standards and outline NaturalMotion requirements and working practises where appropriate.
• Oversee, guide and support Game Design at external third party development teams through all stages of development from concept and detailed design specification, through to release and live operation.
• Ensure that features and projects are designed and executed to NaturalMotion quality standards, and that design goals are met.

Collaborate to Optimize Game Performance

• In partnership with Production and Product Management, design and curate an effective Live Ops calendar of events for third party developed projects.
• Define balancing requirements for gameplay features or events in order to maximise player experience and game performance.
• Partner with Product Managers and Analysts to analyse game performance, reviewing game data and player feedback, and then improve game performance by ensuring any design improvements are made.
• Working with Product Managers and Analysts, ensure AB tests/Experiments are defined, setup and tested across different player segments to optimise the game’s performance.
• Oversee and manage effective play testing for third party projects, provide findings and recommend solutions that improve usability, player experience and game performance.

Required Experience and Skills:

• Design Leadership: Experience overseeing all aspects of Game Design for a project or feature team, including systems design, content, live operations and gameplay balancing.
• Free to Play Expertise: A thorough understanding of free to play game design and how to blend engaging gameplay with monetisation.
• Live Operations: Proven ability to deliver exciting, engaging and successful live ops that keeps players returning week after week.
• Adept Communication: An authentic and skilful communicator both written and spoken with the ability to sell your ideas to teams and stakeholders.
• Diplomatic: Confident and assertive when needed, yet diplomatic and respectful, you ensure the needs of our players and requirements of your team and business are met by our partners and stakeholders at all levels.
• A Passion for Gaming: A passion for mobile free to play gaming. You are up to date with game design trends, new mechanics and best practices and have a strong sense of where opportunities for growth in both the racing sector and beyond lie.

What Do We Offer?

• Competitive salary, discretionary annual bonus scheme and Zynga stock allowance
• 25 days holiday, plus public holidays and Christmas shutdown
• Private medical care and healthcare cash plan
• Life insurance and critical illness insurance
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Discounted gym membership and free weekly yoga class
• Flexible working hours
• Free fruit, snacks & soft drinks provided daily, as well as free lunch on Fridays
• Annual season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme
• Summer and Christmas parties and Happy Hour every Friday

NaturalMotion is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, pregnancy, marital status or veteran status.