This job listing expired on Sep 21, 2022
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Our Mission

Ubisoft’s 19,000 team members, working across more than 40 locations around the world, are bound by a common mission to enrich players’ lives with original and memorable gaming experiences. Their dedication and talent have brought to life many acclaimed franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Watch Dogs, Just Dance, Rainbow Six, and many more to come. Ubisoft is an equal opportunity employer that believes diverse backgrounds and perspectives are key to creating worlds where players and teams can thrive and express themselves. If you are excited about solving game-changing challenges, cutting-edge technologies, and pushing the boundaries of entertainment, we invite you to join our journey and help us create the unknown.

Our Studio

Ubisoft Toronto was founded in 2010 and has contributed to many award-winning Ubisoft brands including Assassin’s Creed®, Far Cry®, For Honor™ and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell®. In 2018, the team at Ubisoft Toronto developed its first new IP, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and a new technology that seamlessly blends physical and digital gameplay. In 2020, Ubisoft Toronto led the development of the newest game in the Watch Dogs franchise – Watch Dogs: Legion. Ubisoft Toronto received praise for the tech and design work, for creating the first game in which you can play as anyone in an open world, and for its rich and detailed rendition of a future London. Now, in 2021, Ubisoft Toronto is on the verge of shipping Far Cry 6, the most ambitious Far Cry game to date, featuring the talented Giancarlo Esposito. We’re also kicking off new projects and we can’t wait to share more details once we’re ready.

Are you looking to work with enthusiastic experts who are tackling industry-changing challenges in entertainment and beyond? At Ubisoft, we offer an open environment where teams embrace innovative ideas and share knowledge with a genuine collaborative spirit.

On being a Lead Game Designer at Ubisoft Toronto

As a Lead Game Designer at UbiTO, you will be a designer-manager hybrid with an influence on game design and a group of designers. You’ll help shape the systems and mechanics that make up the foundation of a game and then set a clear plan of action to see them through.

You oversee your team throughout production, manage their creative workload, schedule tasks, and set realistic deadlines. As an empathetic mentor, you recognize and develop the strengths of your designers and create an environment of trust for each one to succeed. Thanks to your understanding of the methods and tools to create, solve, and navigate design, you can step in when need be to help your team bring all features from concept to completion.

Type of Position: Permanent, full-time.

The daily life of a Lead Game Designer at Ubisoft Toronto

  • Work closely with the creative and game directors (in TOR and MTL) to develop the game design vision for TOR-specific features;
  • Put together a project scope plan (timelines, amount of systems and mechanics, etc.);
  • Meet with your game design team to prioritize work, assign tasks, discuss progress, tackle setbacks, find solutions, share experience, provide feedback and coaching, mentor junior game designers, etc;
  • Oversee your team develop their features (e.g. progression, artificial intelligence behaviours, gameplay, 3Cs, multiplayer matchmaking, clan systems, etc.) and documentation (creative briefs, feature sign-offs, etc.);
  • Collaborate with designers, programmers, artists, animators, and other production teams to ensure constant communication & consistency across the board;
  • Adapt to technical and production constraints & participate in finding solutions to fix buggy features;
  • Carry out the annual evaluations of your game designers.
  • Keep up to date on best practices to develop your skills and refresh your knowledge;
  • Participate in recruitment to build and grow your game design team.

What it takes to make it

  • A college diploma in Game Design, Project Management, or equivalent (undergraduate degree an asset);
  • At least 5 years of experience in game design or related experience (live/online game development a huge plus);
  • In-depth experience with game engines (e.g. Unity or Unreal), productivity software (word processors, spreadsheets, etc.) & familiarity with project management software (e.g. Jira);
  • A highly innovative and collaborative spirit;
  • Exceptional problem-solving, organizational, communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills;
  • Critical thinking, curiosity, resourcefulness, and plenty of flexibility;
  • A solid understanding of the market and a (fiery) passion for video games;
  • Excellent mentorship capabilities & a whole lot of empathy;
  • Ability to work collaboratively and efficiently as a part of a big team with multiple stakeholders across two studios – TOR and MTL.

Nice to have

  • Knowledge of 2D art tools (e.g. Photoshop) and 3D software (e.g. 3DS Max);

We know that skills and competencies show up in different forms and can be based on different experiences, that's why we strongly encourage you to apply even though you may not have all the requirements listed above.