Principal/Lead Mission Designer (Campaign)

Summary

As Principal/Lead Mission Designer (Campaign), you will help build and standardize the craft-quality for single-player campaign missions. You will shape critical path and side missions that deliver compelling storytelling and engaging action gameplay within an open-world setting. Combining strategic leadership with hands-on design expertise, you will pair directly with the existing mission leadership to build mission experiences in-editor along with driving the standards, systems, and creative ambition that define the missions experience.

Core Responsibilities

- Pair with existing mission leadership to provide direction, mentorship, and constructive feedback to mission designers, helping elevate the quality of the work and the craft across the team.

- Partner closely with narrative leadership and other disciplines to improve the flow, structure, and execution of the main story campaign.

- Collaborate with senior creative and development leadership to establish priorities, resolve complex design challenges, and ensure the campaign delivers on its creative ambitions.

- Lead through both vision and execution, remaining hands-on with mission design and contributing directly to the playable experience.

- Work with minimal information to bring complex narrative concepts to life within the context of an engaging mission experience.

- Challenge the status quo and demonstrate understanding of where open-world mission design can change and where it’s already working.

- Champion innovative approaches to storytelling, gameplay, pacing, and player agency that deliver best-in-class mission design.

- Identify opportunities to leverage open-world systems and mechanics to create dynamic, interconnected missions that respond to player choices and actions.

- Work with co-development partners across multiple time zones to establish consistent standards of communication that keep the mission team aligned.

- Partner with production to accurately problem-solve and assess scope across a variety of missions to help mission designers succeed.

- Champion a culture of creative collaboration, experimentation, iteration, and continuous improvement across the mission design team.

Core Qualifications

- 8+ years of experience in mission design, with a track record of contributing to or leading the development of high-quality AAA games.

- Deep expertise in mission design, including a strong understanding of mission structure, pacing, and the relationship between narrative and gameplay.

- Expert knowledge of action mission principles including encounter design, combatant behaviors and level design/layout requirements.

- Demonstrated ability to establish and communicate a creative vision, influence design direction, and drive complex work from concept through implementation.

- Strong understanding of storytelling and narrative design, particularly within open-world, single-player experiences.

- Experience providing creative direction, mentorship, and guidance to other designers, whether through formal people management or senior individual contributor leadership.

- Exceptional communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to build alignment across multidisciplinary teams.

- A strong creative point of view, paired with flexibility and judgment to evolve ideas through collaboration and iteration.

Plus If...

- Experience leading or mentoring multidisciplinary mission design teams on AAA productions.

- Experience shipping multiple AAA titles, particularly story-driven, open-world games.

- Experience designing missions that make meaningful use of systemic gameplay and player-driven experiences.

- Experience with Unreal Engine 4 or 5.

- Experience working with external co-development partners.

- Experience establishing mission design workflows, best practices, and standards across a development team.

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 $160,000 to $190,000 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 paid time off, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.