Senior External Game Designer - 6-Month FTC - (UK Only - Remote/Hybrid-Brighton)

FuturLab; Brighton; Remote; GBP 42,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Performance related bonus

27 days annual leave

Bike2work

Enhanced Pension

Eye tests & glasses

Remote therapy service

Life at FuturLab events

Job summary

FuturLab is seeking a Senior External Game Designer for a 6‑month fixed term contract in Brighton. You will lead the design across external partner projects, owning the design vision and ensuring alignment with the studio’s goals.

You will guide external teams, provide clear feedback, and assist on internal projects when needed. A passion for innovative, unorthodox experiences is essential to shape memorable gameplay across titles.

Qualifications

• Experience shipping a commercial game from conception to completion.
• Excellent understanding of game design and mechanics.
• Strong communication and feedback delivery across teams.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the design vision for externally developed projects.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to align with goals.
• Define design pillars and success criteria for each project.
• Provide clear feedback on design docs and features.
• Balance hands-on involvement with external partners and teams.
• Play and evaluate projects to inform design decisions.

Skills

Game design

Level design

Feedback skills

Cross-team collaboration

Unity

Tools

Unity

Job description

We're FuturLab, the award-winning game studio behind PowerWash Simulator, the Velocity series, Peaky Blinders Mastermind, and many more awesome games.

We are looking for an experienced game designer with a strong eye for detail and a passion for creating unique unorthodox experiences to join our team on a 6-Month Fixed Term Contract.

Working closely with the Design Director, the Senior External Game Designer will oversee the design of multiple projects that are primarily designed and created by external partners. Each project will require a different level of involvement with regards to the game’s design.

They will take ownership of all game design aspects of the projects and be confident and effective in providing direction to members of the external teams across all disciplines.

The Senior External Game Designer will also assist on internal projects when necessary.

Core Responsibilities

• - Own and maintain the design vision and quality of a portfolio of externally developed game projects.
• - Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure each project is aligned with product, franchise and company goals.
• - Define design goals, pillars, principles and requirements for each project.
• - Identify and document the success criteria for each project.
• - Forsee risks or issues with a game’s design or feature before implementation and provide clear reports on these for review by internal stakeholders.
• - Provide clear verbal and written feedback throughout the development of each project.
• - Assess and provide the suitable level of hands‑on involvement for each project and each development stage within them.
• - Empower the external teams to take ownership of the design as much as possible.
• - Recognise and adapt when a project needs an adjustment to their level of design input.
• - Review and feedback on design documentation, specifications and feature designs at an implementation level.
• - Work with external designers to solve design problems and optimize the gameplay experience.
• - Identify risks or gaps to the design and work with the external partners to resolve them, escalating to the Design Director if necessary.
• - Regularly play and assess the projects and use feedback from internal playtest sessions to inform design decisions and improvements.
• - Ensure external partners always understand and meet the high‑level creative goals of the project.
• - Assist with design work on internal projects when necessary.

Requirements

• - A passion for playing and creating games.
• - Employed as a Game Designer on at least one commercial game from conception to completion.
• - Excellent understanding and working knowledge of the Unity game engine.
• - Demonstrable level design experience.
• - Demonstrable experience in providing detailed verbal and written feedback for other designers’ work.
• - Excellent interpersonal skills and a proven ability to liaise effectively with all game development disciplines.
• - Deep understanding of game design and mechanics.

Benefits

• - Competitive salary (dependent on experience)
• - Performance related bonus.
• - Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm (No weekends, No overtime, No Crunch!)
• - 27 days of paid annual leave, including 21 standard days, 3 days over the Christmas closure, 2 discretionary 'Duvet Days,' 1 day to celebrate your birthday, plus all 8 UK bank holidays and an extra day off for our very own FuturLab bank holiday! (Pro-rated for FTC)
• - Opportunities to attend and speak at gaming events/conferences.
• - Free MS Game Pass or PS+ subscription
• - Free game codes, game swag and merchandise.
• - Bike2work scheme.
• - Enhanced Maternity - 9 months full pay (statutory benefit topped up by FL)
• - Paternity leave - 8 weeks full pay
• - Enhanced Sick Pay.
• - Enhanced Pension.
• - Remote therapy service through Spill -8 x 50-minute virtual sessions over 6 months whenever you need them. Unlimited 'ask a therapist' text questions.
• - Eye tests & standard glasses for display work.
• - Amazing offices with a great culture.

FuturLab foster an inclusive and welcoming culture, check out the Life at FuturLab page www.futurlab.co.uk/life-at-futurlab for reasons why you'd love working here!

Equal Opportunities

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process as required, please add any adjustment requests to your application.

Candidates without a valid UK work Visa cannot be considered.