The Gearbox Entertainment Company is an award-winning creator and distributor of entertainment for people around the world. Gearbox Entertainment develops and publishes products through its subsidiaries, Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing. Gearbox Entertainment has become widely known for successful game franchises including Brothers in Arms, Wonderlands and Borderlands, as well as acquired properties Duke Nukem and Homeworld. Gearbox’s ambition is to entertain the world and its key driving objectives include the pursuit of happiness for our talent, partners and customers, the prioritization of entertainment and creativity and a measured respect for profitability.
A Lead Mission Designer at Gearbox leads a team of mission designers to craft moment-to-moment stories for the player. They will work with a co-lead to ensure that the workload is distributed evenly between them based on individual strengths. The Mission Design team works as part of our World Creation team, which combines the Level Design, Level Art, Mission Design, and Lighting teams into one unit that ensures we are building cohesive and fun worlds for our players to explore. Mission Design also works closely with our Writing to make sure stories are memorable, entertaining, and polished. This role reports to the World Building Director, and takes additional influence from the Creative Director.
A Lead Mission Designer is responsible for day-to-day management and direction of the Mission designers on their project, as well as coordinating with production to make sure missions are on track and vetted by all the other teams that will need to contribute their work to each mission. Candidates should have a proven skill set including group management, interactive storytelling, visual scripting, and interdisciplinary negotiation.
Candidates should be intimately aware of the types of Borderlands-style missions Gearbox has shipped in recent titles and bring new ideas to the table about how to push interactive storytelling in an online, co-op game. They should be comfortable in Unreal Engine and understand core concepts involved in FPS game, co-op, and online systems. Candidates should be passionate gamers who can speak articulately about modern games in our competitive space and where the industry is going. Successful candidates will show a passion and track record for storytelling, technical implementation, team building, communication, and leadership.
Duties will grow to involve technical and creative review of missions, onboarding new hires, and mentorship of existing team members. This role will be expected to participate in marketing and promotion of the final product, including private and public demonstrations, travel, and public facing marketing.
Through it all, a Lead Mission Designer is expected to maintain a positive team environment, foster trust, and encourage positive, healthy behavior for their team. All leads at Gearbox are expected to contribute to building a company culture around creativity, profit, and happiness that attracts the best industry talent while also providing opportunities for new hires just starting in the industry.
This role is based out of our Frisco, TX office, but we can consider certain applicants for remote work within the United States. Applicants who wish to work remotely should discuss their preferred location with Gearbox Recruiting.
Responsibilities:
Lead a team of mission designers, overseeing the creative and technical implementation of missions across a AAA FPS game
Work closely with the Narrative Team and Creative Director to build out core narrative tent poles make sure players experience memorable stories with meaningful player engagement
Work with tools developers to build and iterate tools and processes that allow the team to rapidly create amazing missions quickly
Coordinate with other Worldbuilding Team leads and producers to produce content on schedule and to a high standard of quality
Coordinate with the Lead Mission Designer and Lead Writer to make sure missions are meeting narrative and technical goals
Assist the Managing Director of Design with recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new Mission Designers
Provide feedback, mentorship, and coaching to the Mission Design team
Qualifications:
Multiple shipped AAA titles, preferably with some Unreal Engine experience
Prior leadership, directorship, or team management experience on a AAA project
Prior mission or narrative design experience in a shipped AAA project
Familiarity and understanding of the Borderlands franchise and core mission mechanics
Deep understanding of modern AAA games and their narrative mechanics
Gearbox Entertainment believes that all team members should be able to enjoy a work environment free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. We are committed to reflecting the diversity of the world we strive to entertain. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we provide fair and equal treatment to all team members and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy or maternity, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state or local law.
