Principal Design Director - Keywords Americas (Creative Centre of Excellence)

Keywords Studios • Montreal, QC

21d • CA$185,000 - CA$215,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Keywords Studios is establishing a lean, highly senior Creative Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Montreal. This marks a strategic shift from traditional co-development support toward end-to-end creative ownership of game vision, systems, and execution strategy across the Americas. Within this CoE, we are redefining how games are conceived, pitched, and delivered—bringing together world-class studios across Canada, the United States, and Mexico under a shared creative vision designed to win new partnerships, elevate execution quality, and shape the future of Keywords’ creative offering. As Principal Design Director – Americas CoE, you are the Systems Master and architect of gameplay excellence across Keywords North America. You will help shape game experiences from initial concept through production and beyond, defining the gameplay systems, progression frameworks, economies, and player experiences that form the foundation of a project. Whether supporting early-stage pitches, collaborating during development, or advising teams through launch and live operations, you will help ensure design intent remains aligned, scalable, and player-focused throughout the product lifecycle. Actively translating the creative vision into engaging, scalable, and commercially viable gameplay systems—then partner with studios on execution to bring those systems to life. From deep systemic RPG economies to accessible co-op loops or live-service retention systems, you define the “fun factor blueprint” that wins pitches and sustains long-term player engagement.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in game design, including leadership roles such as Design Director, Game Director, Lead Designer, Principal Designer, or equivalent.
• Proven success designing and shipping commercially successful games across PC & console (mobile and other formats like VR are a plus).
• Deep expertise in gameplay systems, core loops, progression design, economies, level design, retention, engagement, and monetization.
• Strong understanding of both premium and free-to-play design philosophies, player psychology, and live-service ecosystems.
• Demonstrated ability to translate high-level creative vision into structured, scalable, and technically feasible gameplay systems.
• Hands-on experience creating design documentation, feature specs, prototypes, and system frameworks.
• Strong understanding of behavioral design, player psychology, and data-informed decision-making.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence multidisciplinary teams without direct management responsibility.
• Experience working across multiple projects, teams, or studios in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Familiarity with modern game engines, production pipelines, and development methodologies.
• Experience leveraging AI tools and workflows for simulation, balancing, prototyping, and design exploration.
• Passion for elevating game design through craft, innovation, and systemic thinking.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Regional Creative Director to translate product vision into compelling gameplay systems, economies, progression models, and player experiences.
• Design and define scalable gameplay loops, engagement systems, retention frameworks, live-service features, and content strategies.
• Establish design frameworks, principles, and best practices that elevate consistency and quality across projects, genres, and studios.
• Ensure gameplay systems are engaging, balanced, accessible, and aligned with both player expectations and business goals.
• Evaluate and refine systems through player-focused design, hands-on expertise, and data-informed insight.
• Partner with Business Development and creative leadership to concept, document, and pitch innovative gameplay systems to major publishers and partners.
• Translate abstract product vision into clear, structured, and compelling design frameworks for early-stage pitches and proposals.
• Define core mechanics, loops, economies, and progression systems that differentiate new game opportunities.
• Support creation of design documentation, feature breakdowns, and system overviews that clearly communicate gameplay value and feasibility.
• Collaborate with studios across Canada, the United States, and Mexico to elevate gameplay design quality and execution.
• Guide and supervise design production across projects in Keywords Create.
• Provide consultative support across gameplay systems, level design, progression, economy design, feature development, and live-service strategy.
• Partner closely with design, engineering, production, and product teams to ensure systems are achievable, scalable, and aligned with project constraints.
• Identify design risks, dependencies, and opportunities early to support stronger production outcomes and decision-making.
• Promote alignment between creative intent and technical execution across distributed teams.
• Drive best practices for retention, progression, monetization, seasonal content, and ongoing player engagement systems.
• Support the design of player-facing systems that balance business performance with meaningful, high-quality gameplay experiences.
• Help studios evolve live games through community feedback, telemetry, and player behavior insights.
• Promote scalable approaches to content delivery, system iteration, and long-term game sustainability.
• Leverage AI-powered tools to accelerate system design, economy simulation, balancing analysis, content planning, and rapid prototyping.
• Use AI-assisted workflows to test gameplay assumptions, evaluate progression models, and explore systemic design solutions before major production investment.
• Champion emerging design methodologies, tools, and technologies that improve efficiency, quality, and player outcomes.
• Stay ahead of evolving player expectations, market trends, and innovations in systems-driven and live-service game design.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package that covers Dental Care, Health Care (including out of country coverage), Vision Care, Long Term Disability, Physio, Massage etc.
• Generous leave policies including 4 weeks paid vacation (plus 1 week over the Holiday Season), unlimited sick leave and 2 paid personal days and 1 paid volunteer day.
• Parental leave top-up
• Employee and Family Assistance Plan that offer 24/7 free and confidential help with your physical and mental health.
• RRSP Matching.

What This Job Offers

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