Design Director | North America | Canada | Europe | Fully Remote

What we are looking for:

A Design Director to lead a group of talented designers working on Escape Velocity’s first AAA title.

The Design Director is responsible for managing, mentoring, and guiding a world-class design team to realize the game vision. Working alongside other directors, the Design Director drives quality execution; develops effective process; and cultivates a culture of relentless problem-solving and collaboration.

What we will do together:

• Deliver on the Creative Vision for the Game. You will direct and guide designers in all areas of design, including systems, gameplay, and level design; and collaborate with other Directors, Leads, and individual contributors to ensure that the game vision is realized in software at the highest quality.
• Drive Quality with Urgency. You will lead the design team to introduce features and content to players as efficiently and quickly as possible. You will drive decisions and critically and ruthlessly evaluate all aspects of the game design – from moment-to-moment gameplay to meta progression – to ensure that we achieve quality while still delivering on other commitments and deadlines.
• Unify, motivate, mentor, and manage designers. You will directly manage design leads, and serve as a mentor and leader to all designers and many others on the team. You will lead by example in the way you interact with the rest of the team, push for quality while problem-solving development challenges, and champion the vision for the game.
• Build a best-In-class design team. You will work with HR, recruiting, and other managers to identify and fill talent gaps, grow talent, set performance benchmarks, develop clear career paths within systems design, establish best practices, and hire industry-leading talent. Most importantly, you will establish and enforce a healthy culture within system design that emphasizes problem solving, collaboration, player-facing development, and unwavering support for the overall vision.
• Serve as the voice design across the project. You will communicate with Leads, Directors, and – most importantly – across team structures and disciplines to ensure that everyone understands the goals, designs, and progress of the design team.

What you will bring:

• An ambitious, quality-first mindset. You believe the best idea wins and are optimistic that there are always ways to bring those ideas to life despite real-world constraints. You push hard for quality and understand that we must build a game that players love, not just like.
• Two or more shipped titles in competitive MP / Live Service games: You bring practical design experience from competitive titles and understand the design challenges that arise both before and after launch. You have strong understanding of how to analyze data and address design issues in a live environment.
• Strong managerial experience. You have recruited, built and led design teams to successful outcomes, managed employees through difficult challenges, grown your direct reports, and mentored others on large, cross-discipline teams.
• Deep Knowledge of Multiplayer Game Design. You have a professional understanding of the gameplay, systems, features, and level design found in contemporary AAA shooters and MOBAs, and a keen knowledge for how those features and systems work, not just individually, but collectively.
• Exceptional Communication Skills. You can convey your thoughts, opinions, and direction clearly, articulately, and concisely in both verbal and written formats.

Interested? A bit about Escape Velocity:

Escape Velocity is a team of passionate, talented developers working at a studio that offers excellent benefits, on what we believe is a once-in-a-career project with a committed publisher. But that doesn’t necessarily make us unique. What does make us special? We value the time, energy, and talent of our players and our colleagues. We want every hour spent developing and playing our games to be an incredibly rewarding and worthwhile use of your time. To that end, we are ‘Fully Remote’ and support team members nearly anywhere in the world. We prioritize honesty, even when that means sharing bad news. We strive to give everyone autonomy so they can determine how best to work and play, and we care more about what you bring to the game and studio than how many hours you’re clocking. We’re dedicated to building a culture of play, which not only makes us better game makers, but also strengthens the bonds between us all. We believe in constant improvement across all areas – from the game itself to our production design – and are constantly re-evaluating how we spend our time to ensure that we’re not wasting yours and we’re all always working on the most important things.

A few benefits you can expect from us:

• A generous PTO allowance
• Summer and Winter holidays studio closure (separate to PTO allowance)
• Private Medical & Dental Healthcare
• Private Mental Health scheme
• A generous annual Health & Wellbeing allowance
• Discretionary Studio Bonus
• Top range tech for your home set up
• Other benefits based on your region

How to apply:

Click apply and complete an application along with a Resume / CV. If we would like to move forward with your application, a member of the Recruiting Team will reach out to you and guide you through our process.

Escape Velocity is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to hiring, promoting, and compensating employees based on their qualifications and demonstrated ability to perform job responsibilities.

Applications will be considered regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, belief, race, or any other protected category.