Senior Level Designer

Sumo Digital Ltd.; Leeds; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexitime

Industry leading 35 hours per week

Annual Bonus

Generous holiday allowance

Learning & Development Days

Employee Assistance Programme

Relocation Support

Job summary

Red Kite in Leeds is seeking a Level Designer to craft open-world environments, design missions, and implement engaging combat encounters across AAA PC/console projects.

You will collaborate with art, audio and narrative teams in a large co-dev environment, own parts of the gameplay, prototype levels, and push the boundaries of gameplay and technology.

Qualifications

• Prototype levels with a unique theme or gameplay.
• Iterate on levels based on cross-discipline feedback.
• Knowledge of UE5, blueprint scripting, World Partition, Level Instance and Data Layers.
• Follow design direction and implement improvements.

Responsibilities

• Level Design and Whiteboxing: create spaces for traversal, exploration, combat and narrative considerations.
• Mission Design and Implementation: script missions for open world integration.
• Combat Encounter Design: set up encounters within mission gameplay space.
• Collaboration: work with art, audio and narrative in a large co-dev environment.
• Ownership: take ownership of parts of the game and improve gameplay.

Skills

UE5 knowledge

Open world design

Level prototyping

Gameplay scripting

Job description

Specialising in AAA PC and console games development, Red Kite has a proven track record in the creation of cutting-edge games across varying genres.

Having set up home in the beautiful Grade-II listed Park Row House in Leeds city centre, Red Kite continues to develop top-quality games for multiple world-class publishing partners such as Sony, Microsoft, Activision, 2K, SEGA, Warner Bros., Epic, 505, Rare, Rocksteady, Codemasters, Sharkmob, Mediatonic and Remedy.

Several titles include South of Midnight, ASTRONEER, Exoborne, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Hogwarts Legacy, Fall Guys, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Mafia III: Definitive Edition, Control Ultimate Edition, Two Point Hospital, Knockout City, Battletoads, Crackdown 3, Payday 2, Team Sonic Racing, DiRT 4, God of War III: Remastered and many more.

One of the most interesting aspects to working at Red Kite is the diversity of projects present within the studio and we constantly find ourselves pushing the boundaries when it comes to the gameplay that we are creating and the technologies that we are engineering.

Responsibilities

• Level Design and Whiteboxing: Creating spaces for traversal, exploration, combat and narrative considerations based on cross-discipline peer review and design feedback.
• Mission Design and Implementation: Using mission scripting to create mission flows, whilst focusing on integrating missions in an open world. Also working on mission improvements and iterations.
• Combat Encounter Design: Alongside level design, setting up combat or stealth encounters, making the most of a mission gameplay space.
• Collaboration: Collaborating with art, audio and narrative in a large co-dev environment, to provide the best gameplay experience.
• Ownership: Taking ownership of parts of the game and being responsible for improving the gameplay and keeping it functional.

What you'll bring with you:

• The ability to prototype specific types of levels with a unique them or a specific type of gameplay in mind
• The ability to pick up levels, making improvements and iterations based on cross-discipline peer review and design feedback.
• Knowledge of UE5, including (but not limited to); blueprint scripting, World Partition, Level Instance and Data Layers. General experience of working in large 3D levels or open worlds is also desirable.
• The ability to follow design direction and feedback, as well as ineptly implement improvements.

What's in it for you?

Red Kite is located in central Leeds, a major UK city connected to London by rapid rail links and the M1 motorway – plus the rest of the world via Leeds Bradford airport. It's home to some of the best restaurants, bars and museums in the North of England, and is within easy reach of spectacular countryside (the Yorkshire Moors and Bronte Country), historical York and the Yorkshire East coast (you should definitely check out Whitby and Runswick Bay).

• Flexitime – Including work from home on Fridays and early finish Fridays
• Industry leading 35 hours per week
• Defined Annual Bonus scheme
• Generous holiday allowance – Including your birthday, Duvet Days and Christmas Eve
• 5 x Learning & Development Days per year
• Employee Assistance Programme – Including health, mental health and wellbeing support
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity and Adoption pay
• Life Assurance, Income Protection, Critical Illness Cover and Dental Insurance
• Relocation Support

Nurturing Red Kite's studio culture is at the heart of everything we do, which has been recognised by the following awards:

• GI.biz – Best Places to Work
• Best Companies – A World Class, 3 Star place to work
• TIGA STAR Award for excellence

Red Kite is a social studio – the team regularly gather for socials, game nights, film nights, to play sports and much more – making this a great place to build a career whilst making friends...and let us not forget Red Kite's legendary Summer BBQ and our epic Christmas party!

Red Kite's studio is relaxed and friendly. Every team member has the opportunity to shine and we pride ourselves on providing a positive social atmosphere, facilitated by shared interest groups, wide-ranging clubs and charity fundraising events. Red Kite are proud supporters of the gaming charity SpecialEffect.

Red Kite works closely with our employee diversity group, PRISM, which exists to promote diversity, inclusion, equity, equality and wellbeing across the studio. We continue to work to improve diversity in our recruitment and promotion processes, and actively encourage people from marginalised groups to consider a career in the games industry.

Come join the team, build a rewarding career, and help to make great games with a lovely bunch of talented people!