ABOUT SPLASH DAMAGE

We believe that games play better with friends. For more than 20 years, we’ve been creating team-based multiplayer experiences that have entertained tens of millions of players all over the world and forged countless new friendships along the way.

Our studio culture is rooted in our open, friendly, and collaborative environment. Our games are made by people from all over the world, from our entry-level Fresh Talent hires to industry veterans, and we believe that fostering that diverse culture is the best way to build both our games and our studio. We have won numerous awards, including a ‘World-Class’ accreditation by Best Companies and being named one of the UK’s 100 Best Large Companies to work for.

While our offices are based in Bromley, UK, our people have access to progressive working patterns that give them the flexibility to decide how to do their best work.

Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family, including:

Work your way with access to progressive working patterns including hybrid and fully remote
Substantial performance-related pay system on top of your basic compensation, along with enhanced pension contributions and our life assurance scheme
Bespoke VISA and relocation packages for you and your family, with support from our team throughout the whole process
25 days of holiday and 8 Bank Holidays a year, plus our annual studio closure between Christmas and New Year’s
Private Medical and Dental Cover for you and your family, along with a 24/7 digital GP service
Extensive Mental Health support, with Line Manager Mental Health training, a group of Mental Health First-Aiders, and on-site or remote counselling
Our bespoke Learning and Development course framework to help you grow as an employee, manager, and leader
Industry-leading fully paid 30 weeks maternity leave & 10 weeks paternity leave

THE ROLE

As a Creative Director at Splash Damage, you will be a key member of a leadership team responsible for the creative vision, direction and success of a product.

You will represent and reconcile the needs of the business, the player, and team members’ needs on the project. You will be responsible for the output and growth of the entire design discipline on your project and for the morale, alignment and cohesion of all team members, across disciplines.

Beyond your project you will work to share knowledge, improve standards and processes across the studio and across disciplines, albeit with a focus on design.

You will regularly communicate the vision throughout the studio. You will oversee the creation and maintenance of documentation including the GDD and wiki pages, though you will largely communicate verbally; spending time with each team member, at their desks, ensuring they understand the vision and design, are “bought-in” and have what they need to do their jobs. You will ensure the team feel the progress they are making and what their work is in service of, in the bigger picture.

You will regularly and effectively communicate with any external partners or publishers; managing those relationships, presenting the creative achievements of the team, negotiating feature / change requests. You will communicate outwards to press, communities and fans in various formats from live appearances to pre-recorded interviews to forum engagement acting as both an evangelist and representative of the product and as an ambassador for Splash Damage.

You will manage, mentor, develop & coach Lead Game Designers. You will be integral to the planning on your project working alongside Production to create roadmaps, hiring and succession plans, and scoping exercises.

As a leader you will set the tone on the project and ensure Splash Damage’s values are embraced and embodied by you team; including ensuring your team have autonomy and do not feel dictated to.

You have:

A passion for making and playing games
A deep understanding of all aspects of design with mastery in many areas including; feedback, controls, balance, narrative, game-feel, retention, usability, on-boarding, social mechanics
Significant industry experience in a Lead position (or more senior) and 3 shipped AAA current gen or last gen (PS4 / Xbox One) console or PC title that featured a multiplayer component, worked on from beginning to end
At least one shipped title featuring post-launch monetization beyond simple DLC packs; ideally a Free-to-play title
Fierce attention to detail
Leadership experience, including the running of running a multi-person design team; man-management, mentoring, line-management
Experience of being the vision holder on a project, communicating that vision out and getting buy-in from your team and external stakeholders
Experience of being the flag-bearer / champion for a product including giving presentations to press and at conferences / events
Experience in creating first or third person shooters
Excellent verbal and presentation skills
Excellent written communication skills, including writing high quality and thorough design documentation
Knowledge of industry trends in regards to genres, gameplay, development models, and financial models
Experience with design documentation, diagram and flow-chart creation, including wiki-based design documentation and spreadsheets
Experience with source-control applications (SVN, Perforce, AlienBrain, etc.)
The ability to work collaboratively with other disciplines and experience of being a key part of a leadership group
Strong maths skills; formulas, probability, statistics and balancing
Highly experienced with Microsoft Office Products and other business software including: Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio, Adobe Photoshop or similar
Strong problem solving skills including lateral thinking
An understanding of systems, systemic design, emergent gameplay and the place of procedural content generation in development
Deep player empathy
An understanding of player psychology and motivations

Bonus points for:

Undergraduate degree in Video Game Design, Computer Science, Marketing, Entertainment or a form of technical training
Experience running the live phase of a game as a service, including using telemetry / metrics to inform design and content decisions
Experience of parsing the results of, and acting on, market research e.g. Focus groups, qualitative and quantitative surveys, etc.
Experience of prototyping gameplay mechanics using UE4, UE3, Unity, or similar

Splash Damage is an equal opportunity employer. We believe our teams create better work when they have a range of perspectives to draw from, and we are committed to creating an inclusive working environment that celebrates diversity.