Senior Level Designer

Requisition Number: 150109

Position Title: Sr Game Designer

External Description:

Respawn Entertainment is a AAA game development studio that was founded in 2010 by former co-founders of Infinity Ward and creators of the multi-billion dollar Call of Duty and Modern Warfare franchises. We shipped Titanfall and Titanfall 2 to critical acclaim, and recently shipped a free-to-play battle royale game in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends. We are currently hiring for our Star Wars™, Apex Legends, and Super Secret VR game development teams. The opportunity to create groundbreaking games with some of the best developer talent in the industry awaits our future team members. 

We’re looking for a highly skilled Senior Game Designer who will create systems from concept to final stages of polish, facilitating communication and coordinating departments to ensure the vision is understood and delivered upon. We’re imagining someone who is both creative and technical, who can invent and execute, and who values fun gameplay as much as we do.

What’s it like to be a Game Designer at Respawn? 

-    Day to Day - Our game designers’ tasks include developing game design documents, prototyping, iterating, testing, and solving problems. Some specific opportunities in this role include improving on existing progression systems to find the right balance between rewarding content and competitive balance, developing new gameplay events that keep the game exciting post-launch, exploring opportunities for system design to entwine with game modes, and working on player behavior systems to keep the game as fun as it can be for everyone. You will work both independently and as part of a team.

-    Creative Freedom  - We believe that when talented people have creative freedom and work together they will make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. Our designers are encouraged to bring new ideas to the table, iterate for greatness, scope wisely, and deliver highly polished game designs they are proud of for players to enjoy. As a game designer you will have a direct hand in influencing the shape of the game and a voice when it comes to making the best game possible - in level design, gameplay, and beyond.

-    Ownership - Our teams are small and everyone has a lot of ownership over their work. Our game designers own their individual levels and/or features from conceptualization to shipping. As part of a small team you will have the opportunity to shine here. 

-    Feel - Our studio puts a big emphasis on fun gameplay. We want responsive, immersive gameplay that just feels right. Every detail matters - whether it’s the way a player experiences traversing across a cliffside, the way a weapon feels amazing to use, the way overcoming a boss character can make a player feel powerful and smart, to the way an astonishing moment can leave a player breathless; it’s all crafted with purpose.  All disciplines in game development are accountable to the gameplay a player experiences - and our game designers are key influencers in ensuring the best feel possible.

-    Collaboration - Our game design team plays a central role in development. As a game designer you will collaborate with other designers and other disciplines, such as animation, code, vfx, and art. You will have the opportunity to evangelize the vision for your levels and work closely with other talented developers to deliver on the ultimate promise of “fun.” The work of our game designers has an impact on others, and they anticipate and communicate any design changes or scoping efforts that may affect schedules and workloads.

-    Values - Our game designers are aligned on their values. They share their inspiration, knowledge, and passion with the others in their department. They aspire to treat everything they work on as a personal masterpiece. They play the game and are encouraged to speak up if they see anything that is not up to our high standards. They play other studios’ games and stay abreast of trends, while also striving to invent and innovate. They put their time and passion into what will have the biggest payoff for players. Our leads also make a lot of effort to ensure that our designers work on aspects they are excited about.

What do we look for in Game Designer candidates?

-       Design Sensibilities and Insight - Our designers value having discussions with each other to better understand the intentions and level of success in their designs. We’d love for you to be able to articulate why you made the decisions you’ve made in your own designs - what worked well, what you would change in hindsight, and what you learned. We also value your ability to analyze and break down, from a designer’s perspective, the aspects that work well or don’t work well in games you’ve played and why.

-       You’ve Made Stuff You Are Proud Of -  Whether it’s professional or personal work, we’d like to see gameplay in your portfolio that you developed from concept to finish. We like to see portfolios that showcase strong game design skills - sensibility, gameplay, technical skills, documents, etc. If your portfolio includes work that you developed as part of a team, we’d like to know the specifics of what you contributed versus what was handled by others.

-       Passion - We look for game designers who are highly passionate. Our team is constantly sharing inspiration and working to raise the quality bar. No one is phoning it in here – our team loves what they do and it shows in their work.

-       Potential Over Experience – We value talent over years of experience. Experience counts, but potential is important too. We look for talented, highly motivated people with a strong sense of design and a keen eye for quality.

-       Teamplayer – Positivity and a great attitude help to fuel greatness. The ability to accept feedback and critiques will help you tailor your work towards what’s best for the game. We look for designers who demonstrate a willingness to keep an open mind to team members’ ideas, incorporating suggestions to tailor your work towards what’s best for the game. Making games is a group effort and you will work closely with other talented departments that are experts in what they do. Teamwork is very important to our success.

Ideally, you also will have...

Professional game development experience with at least one shipped title.

Fluency in one or more scripting or programming languages.

A strong attention to detail and the ability to meticulously polish gameplay moments to a AAA quality.

A strong sense of timing and taste, as well as cinematic flair.

Experience in rapid prototyping to test feasibility of concepts.

Ability to pitch game design concepts in a clear, detailed manner, through strong written and verbal skills.

Deep player expertise in one or more game genres.

5+ years professional experience as a Design Scripter for games (strongly preferred.)

Self-direction and the ability to work autonomously as well as with a team.

 

If this opportunity sounds like a great fit for you, please submit your resume and portfolio and we will get back to you once we have reviewed.

 

City:

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Community / Marketing Title: Senior Level Designer

Company Profile:

We are a global team of creators, storytellers, technologists, experience originators, innovators and so much more. We believe amazing games and experiences start with teams as diverse as the players and communities we serve. At Electronic Arts, the only limit is your imagination.

EEOText:

About Electronic Arts

Everything we do is designed to inspire the world to play. Through our cutting-edge games, innovative services, and powerful technologies, we bring worlds with infinite possibilities to millions of players and fans around the globe.

We’re looking for collaborative and inclusive people with diverse perspectives who will enrich our culture and challenge us. We take a holistic approach with our benefits program, focusing on physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support our people through every chapter of life. Our goal is to provide a safe and respectful workplace that empowers you to thrive in both work and life.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.

Days Open: 342

Can this position be remote?:

EEO Employer Verbiage:

About Electronic Arts

We exist to inspire the world to play. Through innovative technology and immersive storytelling, we deliver new ways of experiencing worlds of interactive entertainment for our millions of players worldwide. Our strength lies in the diversity of our people, combining creativity, innovation and passion. We fully champion inclusive culture, and provide opportunities for growing, learning, and leading that allows for the most impactful and rewarding work of our teams’ careers. 

 

We put our people first, and we make sure they’re taken care of both in and out of the office. As we reflect on our learnings and successes from remote work, we aim to provide dynamic, collaborative and flexible work environments for our teams. Our employees connect through our Employee Resource Groups, which are actively involved in driving business decisions every step of the way. But our support doesn’t end at the workplace—we also encourage a balanced lifestyle with paid time off and new parent leave, free video games, fitness reimbursement and more. 

 

Our goal is to provide a safe, respectful and inspiring workplace for all of our employees. Through our diversity, equity, inclusion and social responsibility programs, we’re doing the work to give everyone the space to be their full selves while giving back to our community. We’re looking for problem-solvers, game-changers, innovators, dreamers, doers—people that are ready to move the needle and build on our success. As our industry accelerates, we aren’t just keeping up—we’re staying ahead of the game.

 

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Electronic Arts also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.