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Lead Sound Designer

2 years ago

This is an exciting opportunity to join the in-house Total War audio department as a Lead Sound Designer, based at our high spec audio suites within our studio in Horsham, West Sussex.

In this role, and as part of a centralised team, the Lead Sound Designer will craft compelling audio experiences across varied exciting projects. They will also lead and oversee sound design efforts, their implementations, and technical advancements.

This is a highly collaborative role working with our Audio Director, sound designers, technicians, programmers, and key stakeholders within the audio department and development teams, delivering outstanding audio for the Total War brand.

Please note: This position is a game ‘sound designer’ role. It does not involve any music production, or music related sound design.

Key Responsibilities

As Lead Sound Designer, you will lead a team of sound designers to bring the best of the abilities to the fore with their output on assigned projects. You will cascade and communicate the audio direction to the team, ensuring the game is fully supported through the varied creative and technical endeavours of the sound design team.

On a day-to-day basis you will:

Oversee and take responsibility for the scoping, resourcing, mentoring and the creative and technical output of your team
Prioritise workloads and planning milestones, as well as working with Development Managers to co-ordinate the team efforts to deliver on time
Be an expert in sound effects production, capable of producing world class assets and will lead your team by example, ensuring the highest calibre of audio for the Total War brand
Set benchmarks for our quality and train the internal and external teams on usage of tools
Plan, oversee, and partake in the implementation of all sound design content for your projects, having oversight on all technical areas, ensuring each are fully optimised
Be a driver of technology developments and the latest implementation techniques on your projects and supporting tools, helping ensure that Total War products are at the forefront of gaming audio
Get involved in a wide range of activities above and beyond creative/technical production and task management, looking for opportunities to improve workflow, pipelines, audio systems documentation, recruitment, and training, making recommendations and reports for, and aligning on strategy with the Audio Director
Mix audio content into games with an expert hand, using in-house tools and other 3rd party software and liaise with internal quality assurance staff and Development Managers to ensure all aspects of your teams’ content is fully tested
Be a pro-active problem solver, highly organised and solution focused with excellent communication skills and the ability to cascade direction to the team

Knowledge, Skill and Experience

Essential

Experience in a sound design/audio leadership role in a video game development team
Experience mentoring sound designers, providing constructive feedback and shaping career progression and training
Able to work pragmatically and multi-task projects; be able to plan and schedule sound design efforts while remaining quality focused adhering to deadlines
Expert level creative sound design skills, with strong audio post-production techniques to commercial standards and high level of technical standards with the ability to plan and deliver whole systems while being quick to master new in-house tools and software for integrating/mixing content
A wide experience of implementing audio (using commercial or in-house tools)
Strong, structured, and logical documentation skills
Passionate about audio and interactive entertainment

Desirable

ProTools or Reaper experience to advanced level
Experienced Wwise user
Experience programming software or hardware synthesizers
Experience mixing in 5.1 and multi-channel formats
Knowledge and familiarity of Total War brand

Please note that all audio applicants are required to submit a sound design show reel in support of their application, demonstrating excellence and creativity with sound design. Unfortunately, applications cannot be progressed without an accompanying show reel.

About Creative Assembly

It’s an exciting time to be a part of our craft-led studio, as we push the boundaries in creating deep and detailed experiences that last.

Our teams are diverse from across the world, from trainees to industry veterans who constantly challenge us and make sure we are striving for the best within our games and our studio life. We are united through our shared values of Quality, Focus, Teamwork, Respect and Trust and we win awards for our culture and our people-centric approach, having won a Best Place to Work Award for five consecutive years. We invest in our people, the studio, and our projects. We are a company that’s secure and safe – you don’t need to worry about job security at CA.

We’ll give you the creative freedom, tools, support and development to achieve your potential.

Our studios are based in Horsham, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria, including several bespoke state-of-the-art audio suites and a dedication motion capture facility. We are currently working remotely due to COVID-19 and are developing more flexible ways of working for the future. Right now, we are actively recruiting and onboarding staff with our expert IT and HR teams setting you up for success remotely, whether you’re relocating now or will be in the future.

We offer many benefits to support you and your family including:

We are developing more flexible ways of working to give everyone at CA the balance and space they need. We also offer enhanced holiday allowance, maternity and paternity breaks, flexibility with our core hours, and no-notice holidays.

Bespoke relocation package for you and your dependents, with support throughout the process from our dedicated Relocation Specialists

Private medical and dental insurance, life insurance, permanent health insurance, critical illness cover and free health care screening

Generous holiday allowance plus full studio closure over the Christmas and New Year period, and all UK Bank holidays

Annual discretionary studio bonus

Join our award-winning education and social responsibility programme; the Legacy Project, as an industry ambassador to mentor and educate others

Defined career development pathways and personalised training support including; SEGA Dev Day, internal masterclasses, prestigious creative workshops, on-site training with renowned specialists and global conference attendance

Opportunity to join our Diversity and Inclusion Network – an employee-led group

Season ticket travel loans and cycle to work scheme with free bike servicing and discounted car valet service on site

Free games and merchandise plus access to our extensive games library

Free breakfast every day - toast, bagels, pancakes, cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruit, smoothies, juices, milkshakes and more in our fully stocked kitchen*

Wellbeing support with an employee assistance programme and onsite confidential sessions

In-studio heavily subsidised massage therapy*

Discounts for home technology, travel insurance, corporate gym membership, cinema tickets, holidays, trips out and Ikea vouchers, and many local businesses including estate agents

Studio parties for you and your family; such as our Summer Festival, Christmas Party plus a separate Children’s Christmas Party. We also have Cinema days and wrap parties for game releases*

Studio community activities such as life drawing, creative writing, Pilates, Walking Challenges, Couch to 5k, basketball, game and movie evenings, board game club, 5-a-side football, CA Choir, Sword fighting (yes, sword fighting) and loads more*

*some of the above in-studio benefits are on hold while we work remotely during COVID-19. Our studio sites have disabled access. We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings.

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