This job listing expired on Apr 15, 2021
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Job Description

About the role

The New York Times is looking for a Creative Director for Games to support its fast growing and expanding games subscription business. This position reports to the General Manager, Games. As Creative Director, you will oversee Game Design for the digital Games free-to-play service, and be responsible for the creative execution of games offered by The New York Times, from our Crosswords to our newer games like Spelling Bee, to those that we continue to develop and create. This role may be based in New York or remotely.

Why should you apply?

This is an opportunity to help shape products that people love. The New York Times Crossword is a unique brand, with a 76-year history and regarded as one of the pre-eminent puzzles on the planet. In the last years, we have expanded our puzzle offering into new games, building on our legacy of creating smart puzzles.

In this position, you’ll be an essential leader on a fast-growing team at The New York Times, which has more than tripled its subscriber base in the past five years. You’ll have the chance to shape the creative processes on the team, and grow the Game Design discipline. And as a key leader on the Games team, you will inspire and motivate others to achieve the highest bar for quality.

Responsibilities:

  • Oversee the game designs and game design process for the Games team, from small features all the way to new game development.
  • Working collaboratively to build consensus and momentum, and while working within the overarching New York Times brand, shape the overall style and sensibility of our games -- including gameplay, visual language, art direction, and audio direction.
  • Bring greater playfulness, delight, fun, and player feedback into our games.
  • Systematically understand player motivations, and the game mechanics needed to increase conversion, engagement, and retention.
  • Work to design and develop the meta-game systems that will frame and support the full collection of games offered by the subscription-based service.
  • Working with the Games Editorial team (who create the daily puzzles content), as well as the UX team, oversee the process of selecting and creating prototypes, developing a funnel of new game/puzzle ideas that will be fun to play, meet our audience’s needs, and fulfill Product and business objectives.
  • In collaboration with Engineering, Product, UX, and Production, help shape the Roadmap of features, updates, and new games.
  • Collaborate with the Insights and UX teams to continue to drive usability testing, research, and other insights into your team and process.
  • Manage additional game designers as we grow, providing guidance, coaching and training, while giving your team opportunities to take on more ownership.
  • As a key member of the leadership team, participate in Leads meetings, and contribute to improving the culture of the full Games team.

Requirements

  • 10+ years of commercial interactive Game Design experience, including 5+ years as a Lead or Director.
  • A proven track record synthesizing game, visual, and audio design on successful games at scale, specifically with mobile free-to-play games; web games are a plus.
  • Deep understanding of game design principles, including games systems, game economies, gestures, mechanics, feedback/reward systems, and meta systems (achievements, etc.).
  • Extremely detail-oriented, with a keen eye & feel for quality in games.
  • Experience developing processes to enable commercially successful game design decisions.
  • Hands-on proficiency with mobile & web design-specific tools, such as Figma or equivalent, as well as the Adobe suite; ability to express game design ideas in a visual manner to align teams.
  • Highly proficient with SaaS-based collaboration tools, including G-Suite, Slack, JIRA, Miro, and more.
  • Ability to communicate well across the team, written and oral, and the ability to navigate complex corporate structures.
  • Ability to build consensus with diverse teams, leading through influence, while still ensuring decisions are made with urgency.
  • Strong presentation skills.
  • A passion for games and puzzles.
  • Passion for the New York Times’s mission and commitment to be a part of our innovation and growth.

The New York Times is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce, one that reflects the varied global community we serve. Our journalism and the products we build in the service of that journalism greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which can only come from diversity of all types, across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing for our business. So we strongly encourage women, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color and gender nonconforming candidates to apply.

The New York Times Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. The New York Times Company will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local "Fair Chance" laws.