Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Ubisoft Reflections is a lead studio with a 35-year heritage and known for technical innovation, creating immersive worlds and vehicle & driving technology. The studio has collaborated with creative teams from other Ubisoft studios from around the world to contribute to the creation of some of the industry’s most acclaimed AAA games, the most recent of which include Watch Dogs Legion, Tom Clancy’s The Division & The Division 2, Assassins Creed Syndicate, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands as well as ground-breaking in-house projects, such as the award-winning Grow Home and Grow Up series.

Job Description

The Lead Narrative Designer is responsible for the narrative features and content of the game as well having to lead and develop a team of narrative designers with a focus on the three pillars of Leadership at Ubisoft: Care about People, Drive Performance and Development and Lead in Complexity.

Responsibilities

Build an effective team by ensuring it is fully resourced, a manageable size, and a good mix of levels;
Foster a team player culture;
Plan, prioritise and set inspiring objectives for your team members all year long;
Empower your team members with clear expectations and hold them accountable for their key results;
Provide your team members with ongoing and meaningful feedback on performance and development - ensuring positive acknowledgement of all achievements, both big and small;
Enable your team members to reflect and prepare their future in their role and at Ubisoft;
Engage and positively influence team members and stakeholders around a vision;
Navigate through ambiguity and embrace change with a positive mindset;
Create the environment for initiatives and ideas to emerge and grow;
Care about people: be exemplary and supportive;
Communicate with impact and promote an open dialogue within your team.
Utilise your experience and knowledge to guide team members towards creating quality and efficient delivery of narrative designs that are aligned with the vision of the Narrative Director/Creative Director
Work with the Narrative Director/Creative Director to help establish the tone, voice, theme and style of the game.
Help to create narrative systems that can support the gameplay and liaise with Designers/Directors on ways that the two systems can best serve each other.
Work with production, other team leads, and directors to help create task estimates and schedules for the team;
Ensure your team participates in standard studio development processes;
Balance any writing and editing requirements with the management requirements and responsibilities of a discipline lead;
Define good practices and pipelines and ensure they are carried out through regular peer reviews;
Continually review the narrative design processes to identify potential improvements;
Be an advocate and ambassador for information sharing across projects;
Be responsible for the hiring of any potential future candidates within the design team
Supporting your manager in any ad hoc tasks and duties.

Qualifications

Skills and Knowledge

An excellent understanding of non-linear narrative systems and structures;
Strong writing and editing skills;
A strong understanding of narrative-related pipelines (VO, cinematics, audio etc.)
Passionate about playing and making games;
Knowledge of GaaS and Open-World games;
Familiarity with common scheduling, task and issue tracking tools (such as Perforce, Jira, etc.);
Able to create, manage and help track schedules for a team of Narrative Designers;
Comprehensive working knowledge of applications related to documentation (such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Confluence, etc.);
Knowledge of narrative design and scriptwriting tools (such as Final Draft, Inkle, Twine, etc.)
Familiarity with scripting and/or programming tools;
Self-motivated and pro-active with a strong work ethic;
Presentation and pitching skills;
Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Relevant Experience

Experience managing and leading a team;
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject or equivalent industry experience;
6 years’ minimum experience within narrative design or other relevant experience;
Significant involvement in 2 published games, with at least 1 project at senior level;
Experience working in a multi-site collaboration environment is a plus.

Additional Information

Benefits & Relocation

Flexible working, 22 days annual leave + Christmas shutdown, private healthcare (with option to add immediate family), life insurance & income protection, workplace pension scheme, paid volunteering days, annual fitness & well-being allowance, games, technology & merchandise, subsidised travel and many more...

Relocation assistance is available to anyone currently living 50 miles or more from the studio location. Please contact a member of the talent acquisition team to find out what we have to offer and how we can support with your move here... relocation really doesn't have to be a daunting prospect.

Find out more about Ubisoft Reflections: https://reflections.ubisoft.com/about/ubisoft-leamington/

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Ubisoft Reflections & Ubisoft Leamington is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.