Lead Open World Designer

 Summary  

As the Lead Open World Designer, you will be the primary vision holder for the open world, its systems, and content. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team to deliver a best-in-class open-world experience rich with characters, encounters, side missions, puzzles, secrets, discoverables, collectables, and more.  

Core Responsibilities  

• Drive the design and implementation of engaging, immersive, interactive open-world content that encourages exploration and emphasizes a mix of fun, varied gameplay, worldbuilding and storytelling.  
• Work closely with the narrative team to develop ideas for new content.  
• Develop and execute the design vision and strategy, ensuring that open-world content aligns with the game's overall narrative, thematic, and player experience goals.   
• Leverage the game's core systems and mechanics to create dynamic and unpredictable open-world experiences that adapt to player choices and actions.   
• Continuously seek opportunities to innovate, challenge conventions, and push the boundaries of open-world design.   
• Rally designers, engineers, animators, artists, and external co-dev partners to deliver playable progress at regular intervals as part of a rapid iterative process.  
• Incorporate feedback from peers, playtests, and senior leadership to refine and pivot as the game demands.  
• Go beyond documentation and management to lead from the trenches, with hands-on contributions to the playable experience.  
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation and iteration.  

Core Qualifications  

• 5 or more years of experience in open-world design.  
• Prior experience as a Lead Designer.  
• Knack and passion for blurring the lines between AI, systems, mechanics and scripted content to create deep, layered worlds in which stories can unfold organically through exploration and gameplay.  
• Strong understanding of population and encounter design and open-world content balancing.   
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and leadership skills.   
• Innovative thinker with creative problem-solving skills who thrives in a collaborative team environment. 

Plus If... 

• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams  
• Experience in UE4 or UE5 
• Experience working with co-development partners 

Description   

• Full time job with benefits   
•  Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA 
• Office is located near downtown Santa Monica – near metro and freeways.  
   

The base pay range for this position is $150,000 to $175,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) matching to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.