Lead Level Designer

Mob Entertainment

22d•$77,000 - $153,000

About The Position

Mob Entertainment is seeking an experienced Lead Level Designer to shape the spaces, pacing, and player experience of their games from conception through production. This role involves establishing the level design philosophy, creating initial playable environments, and guiding a team of level designers through various development stages. The ideal candidate will collaborate with multiple departments to craft memorable environments that evoke fear, encourage exploration, and support engaging gameplay, with a focus on manipulating tension, anticipation, player psychology, and environmental storytelling. The role requires hands-on leadership, mentoring designers, and developing scalable workflows.

Requirements

7+ years of professional level design experience.
Experience leading level design on at least one shipped AAA or AA title.
Deep understanding of player flow, pacing, encounter design, exploration, and navigation.
Strong proficiency with Unreal Engine.
Experience scripting gameplay interactions using Blueprint
Excellent communication and collaboration skills across disciplines.
Ability to lead through influence while remaining hands-on with implementation.

Nice To Haves

Experience shipping horror, survival horror, immersive sim, or narrative-driven action games.
Strong understanding of first-person level design principles.
Experience building vertical slices and prototype environments.
Familiarity with lighting, environmental storytelling, and cinematic pacing.
Experience mentoring designers and building level design processes.
Knowledge of AI navigation, encounter tuning, and gameplay balancing.
Experience with psychological horror, survival horror, or atmospheric thriller games.
Strong understanding of environmental storytelling techniques.
Experience collaborating with transmedia or established entertainment IP.
Familiarity with modular environment construction.
Passion for horror across games, film, television, and immersive entertainment, with a deep appreciation for what makes environments feel unsettling, memorable, and emotionally impactful.

Responsibilities

Own the level design vision and philosophy throughout pre-production.
Define best practices for pacing, navigation, encounter design, exploration, and environmental storytelling.
Lead the creation of blockouts, playable spaces, and prototype levels that validate core gameplay.
Establish workflows and documentation standards for the level design team.
Mentor and provide feedback to other level designers throughout development.
Design engaging levels that support exploration, tension, combat, stealth, puzzles, and narrative moments.
Craft environments that naturally guide players while maintaining mystery and discovery.
Create memorable gameplay moments through layout, pacing, lighting collaboration, and player psychology.
Build spaces that maximize replayability and player engagement without sacrificing immersion.
Iterate rapidly based on playtest feedback.
Design environments that create suspense through anticipation rather than constant action.
Use architecture, visibility, traversal, and environmental storytelling to heighten fear.
Collaborate with Audio and Narrative to create emotionally impactful sequences.
Understand how player agency, vulnerability, and uncertainty contribute to memorable horror.
Balance moments of tension with pacing that allows players to recover before the next scare.
Partner closely with Game Design to ensure levels reinforce gameplay systems.
Collaborate with Environment Art to transition blockouts into visually compelling spaces.
Work with Engineering to implement gameplay features and optimize level performance.
Coordinate with Narrative to seamlessly integrate story beats into gameplay.
Collaborate with Audio to maximize atmosphere, tension, and environmental storytelling.
Build and iterate levels directly in Unreal Engine.
Implement gameplay scripting using Blueprints or comparable visual scripting tools.
Identify technical constraints early and collaborate on practical solutions.
Help establish scalable level-building pipelines for production.
Ensure levels meet performance and technical quality standards.