A leader in creating deep and engaging experiences on PC and mobile, Jagex was founded in 2001 and is today one of the UK’s biggest and most respected video game developers and publishers.
Famed for its flagship MMOs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, Jagex has welcomed more than 260million player accounts to its world and created a $1bn lifetime franchise revenue. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds.
Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly-active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped.
Jagex is expanding and extending its portfolio with fresh franchise titles, new IP and, in 2018 launched Jagex Partners, delivering third-party publishing and operational services exclusively for the living games of the future.
Jagex employs more than 400 people at its Cambridge headquarters and is on the hunt for talented people to work across the business to help the company to achieve yet another year of record growth and player satisfaction.
As a key member of the Old School RuneScape leadership, you will contribute to the unique personality and culture of our team and our game! Your approach will drive the highest standards and build on our passion and values that makes Old School special to both our established community and new players alike.
Working in close collaboration with Executive Producer, Product Director and Team Leadership you will contribute towards the game product strategy, and future direction of the Old School RuneScape and its next phase of growth.
As a Design Director you are accountable for defining, executing, and delivering a coherent design strategy that practically delivers to the product vision, strategy and goals. This role is primarily focused on the pragmatic interpretation of requirements needed to execute high performing content together with the development team.
You will directly manage the design and content team working in close collaboration with the Content Development Lead, and Design manager. You will be expected to work closely with product, production, art, and engineering to steer and develop the design direction while providing direct leadership and guidance to your team.
The team will look to you as an inspirational leader who provides motivation, mentoring and coaching as well as advocating team creativity and best practices throughout all design disciplines and process. You will represent your team at a product, leadership, and craft level both to the wider studio, community, and industry.
You will:
- Contribute toward game and studio product initiatives and able to show a clear path forward for the team translating product and roadmap goals into a clearly articulated design strategy that translate directly in well-defined development requirements.
- Be a critical thinker and creative leader ensuring clear design direction by developing an expert understanding of the game while utilizing the passion, creatively and knowledge in our game team to develop and deliver great player experiences.
- Partner with Production, Product Management, Analytics, Marketing, Research and other departments to ensure the creative and game design direction of the product is supported, understand and build with our audience in mind, and guide the design and creative vision informed by product analysis and insights.
- Develop and produce well-articulated design briefs, presentations, guides, and documentation to align team understanding and direction to support short and long-term product requirements.
- Directly manage the design and content development team and lead our highly talented designers and content developers to further develop high performance in craft excellence and content quality.
- Impart your experience and methods to the team and leverage their own strengths and backgrounds to build on their talent and develop a team capable of tackling any opportunity and challenge!
You are:
- A highly creative thinker with a proven track record in establishing and maintaining strong design and team direction.
- Expert and able to review and provide feedback on systems, feature, and content designs and provide guidance to other team leaders, and your team, to continually improve the quality of features, systems and content.
- Game-focused, driven by a curiosity to understand why you are solving a problem, empowering you to find the right solutions.
- Able to actively contribute to the management and strategic development of the game to ensure commercial and quality goals are achieved.
- Understand the player community, ensuring player sentiment and feedback is considered in every step of development.
- Capable of successfully building team confidence, managing expectations, and gaining buy-in & trust from your team and cross business groups.
- Knowledgeable of latest industry trends in MMO’s and gaming and ensure the team are developing the appropriate content and innovative game experiences that matches and exceeds player expectations.
You have:
- Professional experience building and leading effective design teams at Game/Design Director level or multiple titles as a Design Lead or Lead Systems Designer.
- Experience of games-as-a-service design and methodologies and building a living game for a large community of players. Core skills including a fundamental understanding of game design, system design, balancing, and game economy.
- Familiarity with ideation techniques and directional documentation to deliver a design vision and strategy and track record demonstrating strong, practical design leadership capability (creative brief writing, design documentation, pitches, backlog breakdowns)
- Competent with strategies growing, developing, and managing multidisciplinary design teams on a live product and experience establishing and running feedback mechanisms for critiquing and evaluation with design teams.
- Expert knowledge of modern game design practices, processes, and frameworks across all major design disciplines and in-depth knowledge of the industry, the games, and the latest trends
Even better if you have:
- Experience designing systems for MMO game(s).
- Expertise with MMORPG game economy models
- Experience with multiplatform game development
- Specific experience in working with mobile UI/UX
Company Benefits:
- Flexible Working
- Bonus Scheme
- Private Health Care
- Gym Membership
- Generous Pension Contributions
- Life Insurance
- Free Cycle Repair
- Income Protection
- Dental Plan
- Free Fruit and Drinks
- Subsidised Canteen
Feel like you fit this role, but don’t meet all the requirements? We strive for fresh perspectives, so as long as you can demonstrate how your attitude and other abilities might make up for any gaps we would welcome your application!
Jagex are an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages 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.
