Director of Design - Gaming

Onward Play is looking to hire a Director of Design for a top AAA game studio!! You’ll be working with the Head of the Studio Director(s) of Product, and the Director of Design to determine how well gameplay retains players for our flagship title that will soon be exiting production and entering early beta testing. The Director of Design will establish pillars for retaining players and making our gameplay scale. They will also develop the skills, critical perspective, and growth of the San Francisco studio’s design org.

Responsibilities:

• Define and implement how gameplay retains players over the years. Frame them, adapt them based on user research and live data, and align design workstreams against them
• Understand what makes mobile games thrive or fade, and use that to guide and evaluate our design efforts
• Lead in critical areas such as making progression systems scale, finding surface area for bosses to pose distinct strategic challenges, using simulators to configure economies and drop rates, brainstorming modes that will create higher quality social interaction, or using creative to drive lower CPIs and more emotional attachment to IP characters
• Ensure that the design output is adequate for running a live game. Across content pipelines, new modes, and new features. And in response to live analytics, user research, and community feedback
• Manage our design discipline. We are establishing best practices, teaching good working principles and frameworks, and growing individual designers

Work Experience Required:

• 5+ years of game design experience, with at least 2 years of mobile F2P experience including live operations
• 5+ years of experience defining business priorities in a similar capacity
• Must have proven success in game development, typically in a role of major responsibility
• Have contributed to several game titles that are recognized as having reached significant critical and/or commercial success

Required Knowledge/Skills:

• System design (including economy and progression systems)
• Turn-based combat design
• Market understanding (of Top Mobile Grossing games)
• Analytical skills (sufficient to interpret live data and market data)
• Hard skills, sufficient to manage other thought leaders and give meaningful feedback:
• Creative development (such as working with top IPs, and making stories and characters compelling)
• Moment-to-moment design (how players cognize new games and new information, respond to challenges posed by the game, and respond to positive and negative reinforcement)

At Onward Search, our job is to find your dream job. We are creatives, marketers, and digital wizards who use our talents to connect talented people with the nation’s leading brands. And our relationship won’t end with your start date. More than recruiters, we are your advocates, advisors, and employers of record. We pay weekly, make sure your needs are met, and measure our success by yours. Join us. DE&I is not just our promise, it’s our passion. Onward Search is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment regarding race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other classification protected by federal, state and local laws and ordinances.

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Uncover more creative, marketing, and tech opportunities at Onwardsearch.com. If this interests you, send your resume and get in contact with us, today!