Electronic Arts Inc. is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. EA delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets.

Game Design Director

Introduction

I believe that working on EA Sports FIFA is both a great responsibility and opportunity. There are not many games that are truly global and have become part of the culture of something much wider than just games and gamers. FIFA is not only an incredibly fun and enjoyable experience, it’s a way in which people talk and learn about football. It’s a way in which fans connect with the sport, a common language for communication and debate, and a way of deepening their love of the game.

However, FIFA isn’t just about the way that we represent the professional authentic game, although that’s important. It’s how we represent love of the sport in ways that capture the spirit and the emotion, not just the simulation. This requires us to think creatively about what it means to love the sport and game, and come up with new ways to feed our fans passion and live out their footballing fantasies. Career Mode allows you to take your team and achieve everything you want as a manager, Pro Clubs joins you with other individuals and allows you to experience the game as individual part of a wider collective. FIFA Ultimate Team takes a more fantasy and game related attitude towards building a team and competing with others. VOLTA allows you to express yourself as an individual in a version of football that’s authentic to what YOU want to be and do, focused on the fun of playing with friends.

Our efforts to be the game that captures how fans love to interact with football means that we are constantly looking for new creative solutions that will delight our fans, and I think this is what makes it such a wonderful experience for designers. Football fans come from all parts of the world, and what they love about football and the game is incredibly diverse.

I’ve loved being a designer on FIFA, seeing us grow each year as a team and as a product. I genuinely feel that it’s a wonderful place to be a designer, and I am excited to bring on new additions to help us continue to grow and delight our fans.

– Adam Shaikh. Group Design Director, FIFA

The Role

As a Game Design Director on FIFA, you will report to the Group Design Director. You will use your understanding and passion for designing player-first experiences to add to the creative execution and business success of the game. You will own one or more areas of the game, setting the vision with the Group Design Director and other discipline leads, and then lead the design team in identifying and detailing features and game experiences to meet that vision.

You will play an instrumental role in the following:

Work with franchise leadership to help form the vision and direction for the game, and help to ensure that designs follow the product vision.
Lead other designers to help them maximise their potential and performance in the creation of game experiences.
Inspire and motivate the team to achieve high quality within constraints.
Take feedback from external groups and breaking them down to understand the underlying motivations, and then driving solutions to problems and opportunities.
Take a holistic approach to quality and delivery to ensure that the feature set and corresponding execution creates the best possible product.
Investigate and analyze to validate ideas and opportunities.
Champion design and design decisions to franchise leadership and executive stakeholders.
Work on the future direction for the franchise to keep it relevant and exciting in a fast-changing world.

Who You Are:

Minimum of 10 years of experience as a Designer working in medium/large teams within the video game industry, creating high quality games.
Minimum 3 years as a design lead or director on a large title or team.
Experience of mentoring other designers and providing insightful feedback on design efforts.
Experience of console/ AAA game development.
Self-motivated, pro-active and able to own design areas from initial inception through to implementation.
Understand how to effectively use the business model of the game, and how design and the business model work together.
Open to ideas and criticism, and not be precious about your ideas.
Understand why an idea will or won't work, and how to design in order to hit specific goals.

What's in it for you? Glad you asked!

The first and most important is the opportunity to make a difference on a global game that is played by tens of millions of people every year. FIFA is one of the biggest games in the world and we believe that this is just the start.

We also know that it takes outstanding people to make outstanding games and we offer great compensation packages and a culture that values creativity and individuality.

We look forward to hearing from you.

About EA At Electronic Arts, we exist to Inspire the World to Play. We create extraordinary new game experiences for our millions of players everywhere by bringing together talented people that combine creativity, innovation, and passion. We know that our strength lies in the diversity of our people. We immerse our employees into an inclusive culture, and provide opportunities for learning and leading that allow them to do the most impactful and rewarding work of their careers. We put our people first. We provide comprehensive benefit packages with a focus on health and wellbeing to support your needs and help you balance your career and personal life. We provide access to dynamic and collaborative work environments, opportunities to connect and contribute through our Employee Resource Groups, and support for a balanced life with paid time off and new parent leave, plus free video games and so much more! Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Electronic Arts also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.