Lead Game Designer

Smoking Gun Interactive; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading game development studio in Vancouver seeks a Lead Game Designer. The role requires strong experience in mobile game design, balancing gameplay mechanics, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality products. The ideal candidate will have a passion for gaming and a proven track record in game design.

Benefits

10 days vacation leave

5 paid days personal leave

7 paid sick days

Life Insurance

Long Term Disability (LTD)

Extended Healthcare Benefit

Dental Care

RRSP matching

Training & Development

Qualifications

• 4 to 7 years of experience in game design for mobile products.
• Experience with at least 2 shipped titles.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Design Director to deliver the creative vision.
• Develop, build, tune, and document gameplay mechanics.

Skills

Game Mechanics Design

Level Design

Creative Problem-Solving

Game Analytics

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

Company Description

Smoking Gun Interactive, a Keywords Studio, is an industry-leading game development studio founded in 2007 by award-winning industry veterans. SGI is fearless in creating IP and boldly partners with renowned brands to develop a wide range of world-class, immersive titles and interactive experiences that resonate with strategy gamers worldwide and entertain millions of casual players every day.

Job Overview:

As a Lead Game Designer with Smoking Gun Interactive (SGI), you’re a talented, passionate individual with industry experience in game design for mobile products. You have hands-on experience designing systems, balancing gameplay mechanics and level design. A strong literacy in game design and the ability to clearly and concisely communicate ideas in both written and verbal forms is key. You can work independently with little supervision and collaborate with other disciplines to deliver a high-quality product.

In this role, you will:

• Collaborate with the Design Director to deliver on the creative vision for the project;
• Help evangelize and communicate the design vision to the team;
• Build strong creative game designs that are original and imaginative;
• Work independently to develop, build, tune and document gameplay mechanics to final quality while adhering to the design vision of the product;
• Track and analyze game data, and create reports with suggested design changes based on gameplay data;
• Adjust game mechanics designs and tune to balance gameplay mechanics based on gameplay analytics;
• Collaborate with art and programming disciplines to achieve project goals;
• Develop all facets of the game design on small games and contribute to all facets on larger teams.
• Maintain a high proficiency in workflows and pipelines, collaborating to improve tools and methodologies;
• Maintain a high level of quality in all aspects of their work;
• Take initiative in creative problem-solving and collaborating as needed to facilitate effective resolutions;
• Helping liaise between the design team and QA.

To be successful in this role, you must have:

• 4 to 7 years of experience as a game designer with a strong background in designing mobile products.
• Experience with at least 2 shipped titles as a game designer.
• Demonstrable expertise in game mechanics design, level design, tuning and complex game play systems.
• Experience with game analytics and running a live product.
• Experience in understanding the market and target audience for mobile, online & console games.
• Willingness to push the envelope and innovate within game parameters.
• Display a positive attitude, and passionate about gaming and striving to improve the quality of games.

It would also be helpful if you had:

• Experience with freemium game mechanics, retention and monetization strategies.
• Multi-platform development experience (ideally, with various mobile platforms).
• Experience working on AAA gaming projects.
• A bachelor’s degree.

• 10 days vacation leave
• 5 paid days personal leave
• 7 paid sick days
• Life Insurance & Accidental Death & Dismemberment
• Dependent Life Insurance
• Long Term Disability (LTD)
• Extended Healthcare Benefit
• Dental Care
• RRSP matching
• Hybrid working
• Training & Development

Salary Range: $85,000 - $100,000 CAD

Smoking Gun Interactive is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran’s status, age or disability.

Keywords Studios is dedicated to following a well-established Equal Opportunities Policy. We endeavor to create a workplace which provides for equal opportunities for all employees and potential employees.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY

By providing your information in this application, you understand that we will collect and process your information in accordance with our Applicant Privacy Notice. For more information, please see our Applicant Privacy Notice athttps://www.keywordsstudios.com/en/applicant-privacy-notice.

Role Information: EN
Studio: Smoking Gun
Location: Americas, Canada, Vancouver
Area of Work: Game Development
Service: Create
Employment Type: Full Time
Working Pattern: Remote