Lead Designer

2K • San Mateo, CA

10d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Lead Designer to join our team and help us shape the future of online multiplayer gaming. This role will be a key leader on one of our major gameplay pillars to lead the team on day-to-day work, where you will help the vision come to life, align the team around gameplay objectives and ensure how we design meets a high bar of rigor. You have proven expertise in leading mechanics and systems-based teams and features, developing people and building buy-in through strong working relationships across disciplines to bring things into reality. If you have a passion and drive to bring out the best in others, build teams and shepherd a great experience for players, we’d like to hear from you.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional game design experience, including at least 1 year managing, mentoring, and maintaining accountability for multiple designers within a feature team or area on a AAA development team.
• Background in shaping and building a live-service game or major live-service systems from development through launch.
• Proven experience designing and leading multiplayer features that touch multiple systems and need strong integration - such as game mode, characters, economy, progression, etc.
• Theory-crafting skillset & past experience designing for depth and multiplayer gameplay.
• Deep understanding of the various components (UI, Art, Engineering, Audio, VFX, etc.) to ensure gameplay is cohesive and integrated
• Proactive approach that creates movement in the right direction
• Capable of rapidly filtering large volumes of feedback into concrete and useful improvements
• Adept at managing, articulating and advocating for effective tradeoffs
• Well-played in the multiplayer PvP / Competitive Space and able to deconstruct what works and why.
• Capability to abstract designs outside of single solutions into patterns and models of player behavior; providing options and flexible design solutions
• Strong experience with Unreal Engine and Blueprint visual scripting; programming experience (C++, C#, etc.) is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead a feature team by setting scope, approach and design objectives that meet our overall game goals
• Manage other designers by giving them support, growth and actionable feedback on both what they work on and how they work
• Define and set sprint and milestone objectives for your team - including appropriate tradeoffs, costs, and the right areas of work to focus on
• Evaluate and diagnose work to find improvements and opportunities for improvement - along with plans of how to get there
• Work cross-functionally within and outside of your team to communicate and align on the work, tradeoffs and dependencies. Radiate changes across the organization
• Maintain and enforce good executional standards and practices for scripting and design execution - including in-engine and documentation

Benefits

• bonus and/or equity awards
• eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage
• 14 paid holidays per calendar year
• paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Company’s discretionary time off program
• up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year
• paid parental and compassionate leave
• wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support
• family planning support through Maven
• commuter benefits
• reimbursements for fitness-related expenses

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed