Game Director

Kabam; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Extended Health Coverage

RRSP Matching

Flexible Spending Accounts

Commuter Benefit

Learning and growth opportunities

Paid parental leave

Cool office spaces

Volunteer paid day off

Job summary

Kabam is seeking a Game Director to lead the creative and gameplay direction of Marvel Contest of Champions (MCoC) in Vancouver. This role demands over 10 years of experience in gaming, including leadership in a live-service mobile title. You'll oversee design discipline, collaborate with various teams daily, and ensure player experience at championship level.

The position comes with comprehensive health benefits, career development opportunities, and a supportive, inclusive work environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience working on a GaaS product.
• 5+ years in a Game Director or similar design leadership role.
• Deep experience in action-RPG or gacha-driven live service.
• Advanced understanding of game economics and monetisation design.
• Fluent written and spoken English.

Responsibilities

• Set and steward the creative/gameplay direction of MCoC.
• Lead the Design team and mentor design staff.
• Partner with the Director of Product on strategy and prioritization.
• Read live performance data and translate it into creative direction.

Skills

Game design leadership

Creative strategy formulation

Game economics

Collaboration with cross-functional teams

Strong communication

Job description

At Kabam, we’re constantly raising the bar of excellence in free-to-play gaming. We hire for passion and diversity so that we can triumph in our collective skill. Our teams are made up of a fusion of personalities and interests bound together by a collaborative nature, fun-loving culture, and a drive to do what it takes to make great games. And this is where you come in...

Reporting to the Executive Producer (MCoC), the Game Director owns the creative and gameplay direction of MCoC. The Game Director sets the vision for the game, holds the bar on player experience, and makes the calls that shape what we build, how we tune it, and how it lands with players. You’ll lead the Design discipline, partner closely with the Director of Product on roadmap and strategy, and work daily across Production, Engineering, Live Operations, Marketing, and Community to operate the game at championship level.

This role is a full-time, on-site position based 5 days a week at our Downtown Vancouver studio.

In this role, you can expect to:

• Creative and Gameplay Direction:
  • Set and steward the long-term creative and gameplay direction of MCoC.
  • Define and evolve the design pillars that govern Champion design, combat systems, progression (including Ascension), live events, and the end-to-end player journey.
  • Hold the bar on quality and craft across every tentpole, saga, season, and live moment shipped.
  • Make the calls on what gets built, how it gets tuned, and how it lands with players.
• Design Discipline Leadership:
  • Lead the Design team, including the Lead Designer and senior designers across combat, economy, content, and systems.
  • Mentor and develop the Design discipline, building confidence, ownership, and craft.
  • Establish and protect the design standards by which all MCoC content is evaluated.
  • Recruit, retain, and grow design talent at all levels.
• Cross-Functional Partnership and Strategy:
  • Partner with the Director of Product on roadmap shape, monetization strategy, and prioritization calls across a multi-year live service.
  • Work daily with Production, Engineering, Live Operations, Marketing, and Community to deliver coordinated outcomes.
  • Represent the player and game health in senior decisions, including the tradeoffs between short-term commercial outcomes and long-term game runway.
  • Contribute to studio-level planning and to the broader leadership team for MCoC.
• Live Data, Player Health, and Communication:
  • Read live performance data confidently and translate it into creative direction without losing the long view.
  • Hold the balance between live operations cadence and long-term economy health.
  • Communicate clearly and credibly across disciplines and levels, from design reviews through executive presentations through player-facing announcements.
  • Engage with the player community when needed, representing the studio with authenticity and care.

To be successful in this role, your background includes:

• 10+ years of experience working on a GaaS (Games as a Service) product.
• 5+ years in a Game Director, Design Director, or principal-level design leadership capacity on a live-service mobile title at scale.
• Deep experience in action-RPG, collection RPG, gacha-driven live service, or hero-roster combat.
• Advanced understanding of game economics, monetisation design, and the relationship between live ops cadence and long-term player health.
• A collaborative working style with Product and Production leadership, with experience operating effectively in cross-functional senior teams.
• Sound product judgment and the ability to formulate creative strategy with clear, measurable outcomes.
• Strong communication skills across executive leadership, cross-functional disciplines, and player-facing channels.
• A track record of leading and developing design teams who do their best work.
• Fluent written and spoken English.
• Preferred:
  • Shipped or operated a tentpole live-service title for three or more years in-market.
  • Experience evolving a long-running live service through a strategic step-up.
  • Passion for Marvel, fighting games, or both.

Benefits:

• Extended Health Coverage: effective day one, no waiting period! Our benefits cover health, dental, life, disability, and extended paramedical services such as vision care, mental health practitioners, massage, physiotherapy, acupuncture, and much more.
• DEIB Benefits: DEIB is important to us and to our people - that’s why our benefits include gender-affirming care, fertility care, and other hormonal treatments and drugs.
• Flexible Spending Accounts: our benefits are built on a flex credit model, so you’re able to choose the coverage levels that are right for you, and allocate the rest to a group RRSP/TFSA, Health Spending account, and/or Personal Spending Account.
• RRSP Matching: everyone retires eventually, and we help our people save for their futures with a contribution matching program once you reach 90 days with us.
• Commuter Benefit: we believe in the power of in-person collaboration, and want to support you in making it work for you! We provide a flexible, monthly cash allowance to help cover the costs of transit, parking, or even personal logistics like childcare and pet care.
• PTO and Parental Leave: we offer paid parental leave, flexible paid time off, paid time off for volunteering, sick leave, and holiday closures.
• Employee and Family Assistance Program: this program provides crisis management support, immediate mental health care, and generalized support for emotional, mental, and financial well-being.
• Telus Virtual Health: we provide increased access to remote healthcare providers for prescription refills or referrals from the comfort of your home.
• Learning and growth: We encourage people to grow both personally and professionally, and support this through regular lunch & learns and an education stipend.
• Pay transparency: We share with employees the pay range their role falls within and clear career maps to determine how they can grow within their role or level-up to a promotion.
• Cool spaces: Our offices are in Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Whether it’s summers on the rooftop patio in Downtown Vancouver, or watching the fireworks in Montreal’s South Shore - we want our people to feel like their time spent in office is worthwhile!
• Giving back: Kabammers have a dedicated paid day off every year to volunteer to a cause close to their hearts. Some teams even band together for group volunteer days off-site!

Kabam is a Equal Employment Opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and equitable workplace, and inclusive environment for all existing and potential employees. Employment decisions are based on candidate qualifications and business need, not race, color, ancestry, place of origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, political belief, religion, creed, marital or family status, medical condition, genetic information, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, prior criminal conviction or any other protected class in accordance with federal, state or provincial and local laws and ordinances. Accommodations will be provided as requested by candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.