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Lead Game Designer
3 years ago
As a leading mobile games developer, Jam City is looking to “level up” our talent. We’re on the hunt for innovators who consider themselves dynamic, collaborative and thrive in a fast-paced environment.
PERKS & BENEFITS
Unlimited Vacation, Paid Sick Days & Holidays*
100% Employee Covered Medical, Dental, Vision Plan Base Plan*
Life Insurance, 401k, Flexible Spending Accounts, Commuter Benefits & More*
Catered Lunches & Well-stocked Kitchens
Onsite Gym & Wellness Activities (Yoga & Zumba)*
Happy Hours
Company Events
Dog-Friendly*
*Only applies to full-time positions.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We’re currently looking for a passionate and accomplished Lead Game Designer to join our San Francisco studio. In this role, you will be responsible for the creative vision of a mobile, free-to-play game, communicating that vision to studio leadership and the development team, and leading a team of game designers. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the top creative and analytical talent in the industry to develop, launch, and improve mobile games for multi-billion-dollar IPs. If you aren’t afraid of innovation, then this role is for you.
To successfully execute the role, you must have experience leading a full development team for iOS & Android platforms, provide appropriate design documents, have deep experience in game design theory and a working understanding of Unity.
You will work with a supporting Game Design team, driving all feature design work to align with the overall product vision. You will also work closely with the Producer and Product Manager to plan key features, live operations, and content updates.
You will also regularly communicate with studio leadership, assist in product play testing, and work with other team members to review the full mobile product. In addition, you must be able to take notes from multiple sources and be able to incorporate the feedback into revised game content and features.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Make creative decisions that matter and have consequences. As a lead and experienced colleague, you will be trusted and empowered to make the right design decisions for the customer.
- Transform your ideas into detailed and well thought out designs, clearly communicated with high-quality documentation, wireframes, flows, and spreadsheets.
- Lead your design team to define the creative vision, technical specifications, fun factor and product content for assigned software products.
- Lead the design of game content and features, while managing the design scope and schedule.
- Set daily work assignments for your team designers, leading them toward the achievement of its defined objectives.
- Work closely with your partners in other teams and disciplines to strategize the successful execution of the product vision.
- Participate in regular, hands-on interaction with producers and software engineers to ensure that the concepts and content of assigned games meet design requirements.
- Actively manage relationships with internal and external creative resources.
- Synthesize key performance indicators, user testing, and internal feedback to recommend design solutions and modify the game mechanics accordingly.
- Use data to identify and resolve issues in the game’s core KPIs.
- Work directly with engineers, artists and product managers throughout the lifecycle of owned features to ensure they are of the highest quality.
- Stay current with and deconstruct game design trends, patterns, and consumer preferences.
- Be a team player - everyone contributes ideas and we are a collaborative, supportive, results-focused, ego-free group.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 8+ years of experience in mobile free-to-play game design, including at least 2 years on a game in live-ops.
- 2+ years of experience in a Lead capacity.
- Experience creating and owning features designed to appeal to a casual audience.
- Expert specs, wireframes, flows, and feature documentation for a live game.
- Expert systems design and game tuning for free-to-play games.
- Expert knowledge of virtual goods and game monetization concepts.
- Expert economic modeling and balance skills.
- Expert knowledge of the free-to-play market, and it’s past and current trends.
- Ability to work as part of a large, fast-paced team in sprints.
- Ability to collaborate with other members of the design team.
NICE TO HAVE
- Experience with both original and IP game development.
- Previous design experience on a top 50 grossing game.
- Familiarity with scripting languages or other technical skills related to game development.
- Experience with both original and IP game development.
- Experience mentoring or managing other designers.
- Expert level experience with tools like Tableau, JIRA, and Google Docs/Sheet/Slides.
- Prototyping/scripting experience
OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUITY, DIVERSITY, & INCLUSION
We believe in creating games that unite people across the world and that showcase our commitment to providing an environment that is both inclusive and diverse for our players and employees. We strive to create a workforce that is reflective of our global player community as we know that we are stronger and better when we play together. To help promote an inclusive culture, we celebrate the visible and invisible diversity of our Jam Citizens through initiatives including Employee Resource Groups, cultural events, trainings, speaker series, and more.
Jam City is an equal opportunity employer. We enthusiastically accept our responsibility to make employment decisions without regard to race, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, religion, ethnicity, marital, or domestic partnerships status, disability, genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing), predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, veteran status, domestic violence victim status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expressions, or any other classification protected by federal, state, and local laws. Our management is committed to following this policy with respect to hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, recruiting, pay, and other forms of compensation, training, and general treatment during employment.
ABOUT JAM CITY
Jam City is an award-winning mobile entertainment studio providing unique and deeply engaging games that appeal to a broad, global audience.
Led by CEO Chris DeWolfe, former MySpace co-founder and CEO, and COO Josh Yguado, former 20th Century Fox executive, Jam City is the creative powerhouse behind some of the highest-grossing and most enduring mobile games. Jam City’s global franchise Cookie Jam has generated more than half a billion dollars, and Panda Pop has more than 120 million downloads to date.
The company also is the go-to studio for Hollywood, having developed immersive, narrative-rich mobile games around iconic entertainment brands. The company’s popular RPG game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery was the #1 game in more than 40 countries at its launch in April 2018.
Jam City has nine studios located in Los Angeles (HQ), Berlin, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Burbank, Cedar Falls, San Diego, San Francisco, and Toronto.
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