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Principal Sound Designer

3 years ago

We are looking for a Principal Sound Designer to join our in-house audio team based at our game development studio, in Horsham, West Sussex.

This is an exciting senior-level position suited to someone with creative flair and proven quality-driven game audio experience. As a Senior or Principal Sound Designer you will drive forward the immersive soundscape of our award-winning Total War series, as part of a multi-disciplinary AAA audio team. You will produce sound effects and accompanying designs for a wide variety of interesting entities from human characters to monsters, catapults to energy shields, chariots to motorised vehicles, implementing and mixing the effects and other audio into our latest titles, while helping to define technical audio systems that will keep Total War audio at the forefront of game audio.

Passion and quality are the two hallmarks of our audio production, which has culminated in an impressive array of industry awards. We’ll support your creativity and drive for excellence with our state of the art audio facilities which include 14 on-site commercial grade sound suites and 2 live rooms for foley, dialogue and musician sessions, a discipline focused team with dedicated sound design, dialogue and music production personnel, as well as dedicated audio-QA and audio code teams.

Note: this is a game sound designer role, that does not involve any music production, or music related sound design.

Key Responsibilities

As a Principal Sound Designer, you will take ownership for creating sound effects using a variety of techniques, utilising your creativity to continuously improve player audio experiences. You will set high standards for the team, helping to train and mentor more junior staff.

On a day to day basis you will:

Set high standards and help mentor junior members of the team
Lead areas of the game audio (such as: Creatures; Foley; Crowd System; War-Machines; etc.), research and plan out the delivery of required audio assets, work closely with Audio Programmers to develop & improve audio systems and tools
Create, implement, and mix audio content into the game, using Audiokinetic Wwise, other 3rd party software and our in-house tools, ensuring that the resulting sounds are up to AAA standards in quality, creativity, and optimisation
Create sound effects using techniques such as location / studio recording, Foley recording in addition to utilising pre-recorded in-house and commercial material and designing new audio systems
Create and mix audio content for in-game movies, trailers, demos, and conferences to commercial standards when required. Respond to direction from the Audio Director on audio aesthetics and sound design feedback
When required, work and collaborate with external audio vendors

Knowledge, Skill and Experience

Essential

In-house games development experience at a senior/principal level as a ‘sound designer’ or similar
Ability to identify, create, and ensure the quality of the sound content and its integration as a gameplay element
Experience with Wwise or other audio engine
Ability to work as a team player and under own initiative
Ability to plan, organise and oversee location sfx recording sessions
Ability to work logically and multi-task projects; be able to plan and schedule sound design efforts while remaining quality focused and adhering to deadlines

Desirable

Knowledge and familiarity of Total War brand a bonus
Professional location and studio-based sound effects recording experience
A full clean driving licence to be able to attend remote Foley sessions

All Audio applicants are required to submit a show reel in support of their application, demonstrating creative sound design. Applications cannot be considered without an accompanying show reel.Creative Assembly is about the right people making the best games. We are united through our values; Quality, Focus, Teamwork, Respect and Trust. Winner of multiple Best Place to Work Awards, we house many talented people, 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 have studio sites in Horsham UK and Sofia Bulgaria, including a number of bespoke state-of-the-art audio suites and a dedicated motion capture site. Currently we are working fully remotely, and we continue to assess the COVID-19 situation with the safety of our staff our number one priority. We are still actively recruiting and onboarding new staff each week. Our expert IT and HR teams will set you up with everything you need to join remotely whether you will need to relocate to the UK (or within the UK) now, or at a later date. We offer many benefits to support you and your family including:

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

Enhanced maternity and paternity, 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, as 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

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 free Japanese lessons, 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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