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Lead Game Designer - Star Wars
2 years ago
We are BossAlien, part of the NaturalMotion family. Our mission is to bring AAA console visuals and deep compelling gameplay to mobile platforms. For the past four years NaturalMotion Studios have been named one of the Best Places to Work in the UK games industry by gamesindustry.biz.
Hiring Update: The safety of our candidates and team members is our top priority. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our workforce transitioned to working from home, with all interviewing and onboarding being conducted virtually until further notice.
Job Purpose
We are looking for Lead Game Designer to join us at BossAlien, a division of NaturalMotion, in creating Star Wars™ : Hunters, a competitive arena combat game for the Nintendo Switch system and mobile devices. Star Wars : Hunters will bring players together to engage in thrilling, team-based, multiplayer battles featuring a diverse array of distinctive new Star Wars characters.
You will assist the Design Director in handling the day-to-day operations of designers, focused on delivery of key features, helping to drive creative solutions to design problems, and driving quality of implementation. You’re an extremely strong communicator, able to get your ideas across effortlessly in written or verbal format, and will use that to be a strong liaison between the design team and other departments.
Key Roles & Responsibilities
- Help lead the design team on Star Wars:Hunters, bringing creativity, vision, market knowledge, design experience and a collaborative working style to become a key design leader.
- Act as liaison between design and other departments, helping to drive quality implementation of features that you lead the design of through strong partnerships with production, engineering, art, and other departments
- Create and drive strong design vision for features and systems, as well as champion and develop features in collaboration with other designers
- Help own and drive design reviews, processes, and pipelines in conjunction with production and the Design Director
- Provide clear and concise communication of the product vision and design processes to key stakeholders
- Observe and analyse user testing and analytics to recommend design solutions and improve/fix design features during the life of the product as a service
- Own, drive, and live our values of design through playtest and iteration every day with the team
- Solicit, organise, and distill feedback from within the team and the broader organisation
- Manage, mentor, and develop designers within the studio in conjunction with the Design Director and other leads
Required Skills & Experience
- You are a consummate problem solver, and have a wide encyclopedia of knowledge about games and systems to pull from in tackling complex design problems
- Experience leading feature designs and development for major systems in a game, or leading the design for entire projects
- Understand that we can only create outstanding games as a team, and have the experience and energy to turn creative direction into fully developed game mechanics
- Have a firm attention to detail and understand the importance of balance and strong system design
- Experience managing a design team, directing work, and mentoring staff
- Strong people person, who will look after and mentor your team, and take personal pride in growing them and helping them to succeed
- A love and admiration for the Star Wars universe, and embrace the opportunity to make your mark and tell your story within one of the most beloved and storied franchises of all time
What do we offer?
- Competitive salary, discretionary annual bonus scheme, Zynga stock allocation and Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Contributory pension scheme
- 25 days holiday, plus public holidays and Christmas shutdown
- Private medical care, dental and healthcare cash plan
- Life insurance, critical illness insurance and income protection
- 6 months fully paid maternity leave or 3 months fully paid paternity leave
- Discounted gym membership and free weekly (virtual) fitness classes
- Annual season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme
- Flexible working hours
- Summer and Christmas parties
We are an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to building a diverse and talented workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by applicable law. We welcome job-seekers, players, employees, and partners from all backgrounds to join us!
We will consider all qualified job-seekers with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities in order to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us at accommodationRequest@zynga.com to request an accommodation associated with your application for an open position.
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