Game Design Director

The Game Design Director will oversee and architect game designs for a broad portfolio of products utilizing analytics driven design approaches through various internal and external teams. The ideal candidate can actively drive excellence in game design throughout the product roadmap and work effectively with cross-functional teams to communicate, implement, and polish these designs into shipped products. Design specialties include, but are not limited to: Online / MMO Design, Multiplayer Design, Social Game Design, AI Design/Scripting, Design tools/pipeline, UI/HUD Design, Human Factors Engineering, Level Design, Systems Design, Play Balancing, Sandbox Design, Interactive Story Design, and Design Production Methodologies.

Responsibilities

  • Organize game design scaffolding for each title on slate
  • Form ideas and features into game design calculus
  • Effectively champion excellence in design specialty, particularly social games, to internal and external stakeholders
  • Creatively solve problems related to game design specialties for a wide variety of genres, titles, and resource budgets
  • Work directly with product teams to improve game design in specified areas, while balancing resource, schedule, and quality needs
  • Writing concise, readable game design documents that clearly communicate both design intent and design details and while creating templates / examples for the entire game design staff
  • Effectively communicate design solutions through a variety of means, from informal one-on-ones to detailed game design documents
  • Work effectively with cross-functional teams to implement design solutions
  • Integrate easily into a variety of team structures and styles
  • Provide expert design critique and analysis for specified areas of game design
  • Effectively communicate critiques to teams
  • Coach, mentor, and train studio designers/producers in area of specialties through written documents, one-on-one meetings, and large group presentations
  • Drive game design thought leadership
  • Conduct design research and formally present findings in areas of specialty
  • Write white papers regarding game design specialties
  • Educate, liaise and facilitate communication with Engineering, Production, QA, Art, Marketing / Sales, Biz Dev, Legal and all other internal groups regarding game design
  • Assist in evaluating and formulating roadmap, resources (internal and external) and new intellectual property concepts
  • Establish, communicate, and manage department objectives to meet project schedules
  • Lead inter-department communications as they relate to game design
  • Take an active role in developing, maintaining, and refining a vision for game design direction
  • Hire, induct, and manage team members, freelancers and external studios as needed
  • Research, explore, and communicate best practices in game design and discern which competitive ideas are most effective; lead the development of goals, standards, processes and feedback mechanisms
  • Lead formal and informal critique, and provide effective feedback
  • Develop/manage expense budgets, adjusting cost estimates on an ongoing basis
  • Develop and provide continuous quality improvement on processes for planning, execution, approval and reporting

Required Knowledge, Skills and Experience

  • 7 – 10 years of professional experience and advanced leadership including communication and project management skills is required, with a minimum of 5 years as a senior level professional
  • College Degree from highly regarded/accredited institution, or respectable body of professional work/experience
  • Solid experience in the entertainment and/or video game / interactive markets
  • Demonstrable mastery of game design principles, documentation and tracking
  • Solid understanding/philosophy of game design and the realities of production from an art, tech, and design standpoint
  • Demonstrated ability to make compromises while maintaining design integrity
  • Innovative creative problem solving
  • Ability to follow through and see projects to completion, working independently and as a team
  • Demonstrated ability to work at many levels, from high level concepts to detailed design balancing
  • Outstanding communication and writing skills
  • Excellent grammatical skills and the ability to communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing
  • Successful track record in developing and managing multidisciplinary game design teams
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
  • Experience multitasking on multiple projects, priorities, and deadlines with a strong attention to detail and target quality
  • Expert understanding of direction and storytelling
  • Applied strategy, brainstorm facilitation, day-to-day shepherding of a project to completion and team collaboration with stakeholders is required
  • Proven ability to think conceptually and broadly about projects and the brand as a whole, and to develop and evolve creative systems
  • Lead copy, names, and narrative elements of game
  • Lead user experience stories and create wireframe screens and flows
  • Analyze real-time feedback and metrics, and adjust game designs accordingly
  • Coordinate with cross-functional teams to oversee the implementation of new features and systems
  • Expert with scripting, math and formulas in game environment
  • Experience designing social / combat and/or system mechanics including player control and NPC/AI types and behaviors
  • Strong knowledge of game balancing and pacing, tune and model complex systems using Excel
  • Fluent in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio) and Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash)
  • Passion for video games, virtual worlds and social networking
  • Shipped titles and experience in social / mobile / web video games a major plus
  • PLUS: Expertise in Flash Development: Actionscript 2 and 3, object-oriented programming, CPU/Memory optimization, JavaScript/Flash bridging, Cross-browser compatibility

Grab Benefits

GRAB offers competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, and excellent growth opportunities. Our benefits are designed to strengthen our organization by supporting employees' ability to balance work, personal and family life. Through GRAB's exceptional company culture and outstanding benefits, employees have the opportunity to share in the Company's success and have more peace-of-mind and enjoyment in daily life.

  • Competitive salary
  • Bonuses
  • Employee Share Interest
  • Health care coverage
  • Dental coverage
  • Employee Referral Program
  • Paid holidays
  • Paid vacations
  • Weekly Catered Lunches
  • Team member events
  • Office snacks
  • and Video Games