This job listing expired on Jun 20, 2020
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The chance to work on an exciting new AAA IP from Square Enix. The recently announced Outriders is a co-operative shooter set in an original sci-fi universe. We are the publishing development team behind franchises as diverse as Just Cause and Life is Strange, and we are looking for an experienced designer with a passion for shooters to successfully develop and launch our most exciting new franchise. You will be working within the London studio to ensure the overall quality and playability of Outriders (and all our externally-developed games) is as high as possible, while ensuring the creative content supports, drives and maximizes our business goals and ambitions.

Key Deliverables

  • Oversee all aspects of a title from a creative and design standpoint including single player, multiplayer, DLC, PDLC, monetization, companion apps, social layer, and franchise extensions as appropriate.
  • Guide our development partners in all areas of design. Continually evaluate titles in development and offer constructive feedback, assistance & solutions to developers to improve weak areas, and make strong areas even better.
  • 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.
  • Build a good working relationship with the title’s stakeholders and assist them wherever possible to:
    • Set design intentions and priorities for key gameplay features
    • Ensure design is optimised for post ship monetization (where appropriate)
    • Set design-based milestone content
    • Review milestones & project timelines
    • Maintain a clear and consistent design vision for each game
    • Contribute to mid and post-mortems
    • Organize on-going focus testing and usability tests
  • Work to keep the game on the right track and ensure the stability of the creative direction of the project.
  • Ensure the core game play is strong, fun and challenging as early as possible in the development, and delivers the design intention at agreed milestones.
  • Ensure the play balance and difficulty curve works well, and that gamers of different skill levels can all get a great experience from the games while making sure the game is appropriate for its target audience.
  • Proactive problem solver who is organised and methodical.
  • Willing to travel and stay away from home when required.

Key Stakeholders

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

Reports to

Design Director

Requirements

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

  • Must have been Lead Designer level at a video game developer or publisher on at least one critically acclaimed console or PC title from start to finish.
  • Experience in online multiplayer game development.
  • Familiarity with popular design techniques, tools, processes and pipelines for building video games, including prototyping, scripting, and level editing.
  • Knowledge of industry best practice.

Desirable

  • Will have worked in a senior design role on several AAA quality and / or critical and commercial successes on console or PC.
  • Experience in multiple genres, including shooters and RPGs.
  • Experience of games as a service, including principles to maximise consumer engagement, retention and monetization.
  • Experience in mentoring junior design staff.

Competencies, Skills and Attributes

Essential

  • Always works to the best of ability.
  • Ability to articulate ideas, information and know-how with ease and clarity.
  • Advanced written and oral communication skills.
  • A high level of diplomacy whilst being unafraid to be explicitly critical where necessary.
  • Motivated and passionate team player.

Desirable

  • Will have worked with a number of design tools in the past, and will have a basic knowledge of programming and 3D art creation.
  • Will have a strong competency in tools such as Microsoft Office, Confluence, Jira and Perforce

Other

  • Must understand what makes good games so special, and have the ability to pick games apart, pointing out what works and what doesn’t.
  • Must be able to balance creative and commercial requirements to understand where resources are best spent on a game.
  • Ability to write and convey instructions with clarity.

Please note that Square Enix does not accept speculative candidate submissions from recruitment agencies.