Director, Creative Design Lab (Games)

Netflix • Los Angeles, CA

113d • $320,000 - $640,000

About The Position

Netflix is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with over 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time. The Director, Creative Design Lab, plays a pivotal role responsible for shaping the artistic and experiential landscape of our gaming initiatives and ensuring that our designs align with the broader Netflix service. You will work closely with our world-class Netflix creative, technical, and production teams to enable the creation of exceptional games and transmedia experiences. In this leadership role, you will collaborate with internal and external game development teams to assess and validate milestone progress, creatively guide them to quality, and integrate and expand our intellectual properties into engaging gaming experiences. Your role will ensure that these partnerships maintain the integrity and vision of our brand while delivering innovative and captivating content. By building strong relationships and facilitating seamless collaboration, you will help drive the success of our licensed projects and external game development efforts. Internally, your team will be at the forefront of pioneering and validating innovative designs and experiences unique to the Netflix platform. Your strategic oversight will guide our teams to explore new creative frontiers and evaluate the potential of emerging design and interaction trends. By fostering a culture of creativity and artistic excellence, you will ensure that these initiatives contribute significantly to the advancement and success of our gaming platform.

Requirements

• A deep passion for gaming and a strong understanding of the gaming industry, coupled with a commitment to driving significant business value through design.
• A minimum of 10 years of design experience in the gaming industry, including at least 5 years in design leadership/management roles.
• Experience in leading geographically distributed and/or global teams.
• Experience with licensed IP games development.
• Extensive knowledge of game design principles, user experience, and design tools.
• Strong organizational and communication skills, with the ability to manage relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
• A collaborative, creative, and entrepreneurial spirit, with a proven track record of leading design teams to success.

Responsibilities

• Manage, mentor, and inspire a central team of designers by fostering a culture of excellence, experimentation, and player empathy.
• Evaluate and validate milestones and provide external developers with design, art, audio, and narrative feedback to ensure we are reaching the highest quality with second and third-party development.
• Lead creative design and development of game concepts, transmedia initiatives, and experimental prototypes to validate and steer Netflix game innovation.
• Work with external partners to ensure that Netflix IP is authentically represented in game adaptations, including tone, audience, and creative considerations.
• Evaluate and improve game pitches and proposals to reach their maximum potential while keeping budget and developer capabilities in mind.
• Collaborate with leadership across production, product and technology, content acquisition, and marketing teams to shape roadmap decisions and long-term bets.
• Review the creative and design capabilities of second and third party teams, as well as M&A opportunities.
• Represent design thinking at the leadership level and across the broader games organization.

Benefits

• Health Plans
• Mental Health support
• 401(k) Retirement Plan with employer match
• Stock Option Program
• Disability Programs
• Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts
• Family-forming benefits
• Life and Serious Injury Benefits
• Paid leave of absence programs
• Full-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for paid time off to be used for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time off.
• Full-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time off.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees