Job Summary:

This is a chance for an experienced designer to work as part of a dedicated team within one of the world’s most respected publishers of video games.

Square Enix External Studios are the publishing development team responsible for franchises as diverse as ‘Just Cause’, ‘Life is Strange’, and ‘Outriders’.

We are looking for a candidate with a proven track record and a passion for monetisation and economy design in games to successfully help develop the future direction of our studio’s titles.

Based in our London offices (but working from home for the majority of the time), you will be collaborating with and advising our development partners around the world to ensure the overall suitability and drive the success of the monetisation components of our externally developed games.

You will play a key role in building on the existing success of our studio franchises by helping us adapt them to evolving trends in gaming. As such this role is perfect for experienced designers looking for a new creative challenge.

Requirements

Key Deliverables:

• Oversee and advise on all monetisation-related aspects of a title from a creative and design standpoint including business model, economy design, systems design, post-launch content, store design, retention, social layer, and franchise extensions as appropriate.
  • Work to keep the game true to its vision and maintain the correct balance between the gameplay experience, player expectations, and in-game monetisation opportunities.
  • Ensure the core game play supports the monetisation design as early as possible in the development, and delivers the design intention at agreed milestones.
  • Ensure the monetisation design enhances and supports long-term engagement for experienced players, while also not alienating newcomers.
  • Work with the Analytics & Insight team to define, track and report KPIs to inform decision making. Drive review and refinement of project metrics in live games and perform analysis of trends over time, proposing product improvements as required.
  • Recommend strategy for content, pricing, and timing of post-release updates, offers and promotions.
• Work alongside other designers to guide our development partners in all areas of monetisation design and best practise. Continually evaluate titles in development, from initial paper designs to published games, and offer constructive feedback, assistance & solutions to our developers.
• Help keep the relationship with developers as positive and productive as possible. This means working to build an honest and respectful relationship with them, providing meaningful feedback on their performance and ensuring that they understand Square Enix’s development priorities and business requirements.
• Build a good working relationship with the title’s internal stakeholders and assist them wherever possible to:
  • Set design intentions and priorities for key monetisation and economy features
  • Ensure design is optimised to meet business goals
  • Set design-based milestone content
  • Review milestone deliverables & project timelines
  • Maintain a clear and consistent monetisation design vision for each game
  • Monitor player sentiment and feedback and evolve monetisation strategies as required.
  • Ensure store design is optimised for maximum effectiveness.
  • Contribute to mid and post-mortems
  • Contribute to on-going focus testing and usability testing
• Work with Community Managers to ensure that monetisation requirements do not adversely impact on player perception of our games.
• Work with Brand and Marketing to review and contribute to franchise extension opportunities.
• Help drive innovative strategic decision making in terms of how we innovate and remain competitive; what platforms we develop on; and title-specific demo content, post-release strategies, and wider aspects of the franchise.
• Review potential new titles and opportunities; assist with finding suitable development partners and perform due diligence.
• Mentor junior designers, assigning and evaluating weekly workload and managing their professional development.
• Help evolve departmental processes to ensure we remain as flexible and competitive as possible.

Key Stakeholders:

Heads of Studio; Design Director; Technical Director; Art Director; Senior and Junior Designers; Senior Producers; Brand Managers; Community; PR and Marketing; Analytics & Insight; External development studios.

Knowledge & Experience:

Essential:

• Must have worked as senior designer responsible for monetisation, game economy, live service at a video game developer or publisher on at least one critically acclaimed and commercially successful console or PC title from start to finish.
• Experience of games as a service, including principles to maximise consumer engagement and retention as well as monetisation
• Knowledge of industry best practice.

Desirable:

• Will have worked in a senior design role on several monetised titles on console or PC.
• Understanding of developing premium games which include microtransactions.
• Understanding of monetisation of co-operative multiplayer games.
• Experience in multiple genres, including shared-world and open-world shooters and RPGs.
• Experience in developing both co-operative and competitive games.
• Experience in mentoring junior design staff.

Competencies, Skills & Attributes:

Essential:

• Pro-active, organized, motivated and passionate team player who always works to the best of their ability.
• Understanding of current monetisation climate, across multiple platforms, successful monetisation techniques and player motivations.
• Advanced written and oral communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas and information clearly and easily to a wide range of audiences.
• In-depth knowledge of data visualisation software (e.g. Looker), and ability to translate analytical findings into actionable recommendations.
• A high level of diplomacy whilst being unafraid to be explicitly yet constructively critical where necessary.
• Must be able to balance creative and commercial requirements to understand where resources are best spent on a game.

Desirable:

• Will have a strong competency in tools such as Microsoft Office, Confluence, Jira and Perforce (or equivalent).

Other:

• Willing to travel to visit development partners, including staying away from home when required.

Our goal at Square Enix is to hire, retain, develop and promote the best talent, regardless of age, gender, race, religious, belief, sexual orientation or physical ability.

Our pledge to D&I

At Square Enix we believe in the importance of being a diverse and global company, and we stand firmly together against any forms of injustice, intolerance, harassment or discrimination. In our effort to create a truly diverse workforce, we pledge to continue to raise awareness in every step of the employee experience, from recruitment to promotions to ensure equal opportunities for all. One of our goals is to champion diversity in games and at work and work together to inspire real change.

Learning and education around D&I will be a key element for us to continue to grow as an organization. With unconscious bias training, D&I workshops and a variety of initiatives to give our employees the opportunity to be heard and be part of that change to achieve real equality. We need all our efforts to continue to build our culture of inclusion and equality.

We are also proud to partner with UKIE's Raise the Game pledge, BAME in Games and Women in Games, to name a few.

Covid-19 remote working

Square Enix are committed to keeping our employees safe. We are listening closely to government guidelines, and this role will be based remotely until the company sees fit to return to the office. This role will be based in our Blackfriars Studio in London, upon return.