Franchise Design Director: Lead Total War Design & Talent

80.lv LLC; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Creative Assembly is seeking a Franchise Design Director to lead the Total War design discipline, craft, methodologies, and franchise strategy. You will shape a formal capability pathway, own hiring standards, and guide design leaders across projects.

You will mentor Creative Directors, align with Franchise Leadership Team, and drive design excellence across multiple shipped titles. You will promote company values, foster an inclusive environment, and build high-performing teams while advancing

Qualifications

Responsibilities

• Organising the discipline management structure to provide quality people management (hiring, onboarding, 1:1s, career development, clear communication and escalation paths, motivation, performance management, feedback, helping with project placement/allocation in collaboration with Resource Managers etc.)
• Building a formal design capability pathway: a competency framework, career progression and an onboarding programme, so every designer has a clear route to expert level whichever discipline they came from
• Owning the design hiring bar: role profiles, interview design and calibration, and building CA's reputation as a destination for world-class design talent
• Design craft & methodologies (establishing and maintaining standards, continuous improvement process)
• Provides communication line between Franchise Leadership Team and Project teams on a frequent basis
• Craft leadership and support: holding the agreed goals and direction, coaching Creative Directors on design craft, and adapting quickly when needed
• Design Craft support
• Exploration and analysis of the existing and evolving design of the Total War franchise
• Create and maintain a franchise design vision and philosophy that matches our franchise vision.
• Seeks opportunities and areas for improvement or advancement
• Defining what Total War design is and turning it into teachable material the discipline can be formally trained against
• Use your experience to promote our company values and culture, keep the working environment positive and inclusive, provide mentoring and coaching, and build high‑performing teams.
• You will be responsible for the overall Design strategy
• You'll work with your Franchise Leadership Team colleagues on the internal and external strategy for the design discipline and the wider business
• Anticipate and solve problems, on your own and with senior leadership. Get clarity and decisions quickly, step in to build consensus, and agree a way forward.
• Multiple shipped titles, including at least one shipped in a design leadership role (Lead, Principal, Design Director or equivalent).
• A proven track record of growing designers. You've built and run structured development for a design team, whether that's competency frameworks, career progression, onboarding or mentoring, and you can show what changed as a result.
• Experience developing designers who came into design from other disciplines and a clear view of how to build formal training that makes good instincts repeatable and teachable.
• A track record of raising a hiring bar: you have designed and calibrated interview processes for design roles and attracted senior design talent to a studio.
• Demonstrate a passion for all things game design and a keen interest in games development overall.
• You have broad knowledge of games across platforms and genres, and an ongoing desire to learn about the craft. You play everything.
• You have a strong understanding of player motivation and what makes gamers tick.
• You treat design as a craft that is both art and science — something that can be understood, taught and improved, and you apply that knowledge and curiosity to any genre you work in.
• You have a clear, well‑articulated design philosophy and can explain how it shapes your practice.
• You are constantly up to date on trends in the games industry and in entertainment more broadly.
• You play analytically. You can explain why a game works, not just whether you liked it, and you can build deep knowledge of the Total War series quickly.
• Attention to detail and a passion for making quality products.
• Self‑motivated, focused, and consistently delivers high‑quality work.
• A strong communicator who writes clearly and succinctly.
• A constructive approach to complex problem solving and teamwork.
• You have a high quality bar and a need to drive excellence in your craft and in the work of those around you. When something isn’t good enough, you can coach, mentor, and explain why that’s so.
• You can drive consensus and navigate teams to the best outcomes. You always work to build bridges, and you let the best idea win regardless of where it came from.
• Accountability is critical for yourself and others. You demonstrate accountability and you require it of others around you.
• Confident working with data and spreadsheets to interrogate design decisions.

Job description

Creative Assembly is seeking a Franchise Design Director to lead the Total War design discipline, craft, methodologies, and franchise strategy. You will shape a formal capability pathway, own hiring standards, and guide design leaders across projects.

You will mentor Creative Directors, align with Franchise Leadership Team, and drive design excellence across multiple shipped titles. You will promote company values, foster an inclusive environment, and build high-performing teams while advancing