Creative Director

the hive; Dublin; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare plan

Pension scheme

Relocation support

Flexible work arrangements

Global training & development

Job summary

Virtuos in Ireland is seeking a Creative Director to lead a full-development project built on an established IP. You will own the creative vision, guide the design team, and act as the main link with partners and IP holders.

You'll work with project directors to translate vision into a high-quality game, drive pitches, reviews, and decision-making across art, narrative, and engineering, ensuring a cohesive player experience through development and release.

Qualifications

• At least 13 years of experience in game design, including leadership experience.
• Experience on at least 2 shipped AAA titles in senior creative roles.
• Proven ability to lead full development and navigate IP guidelines.
• Strong knowledge of game design principles, storytelling, and player experience.
• Excellent communication across multidisciplinary teams and partners.
• Fluency in English with strong presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the creative direction from pre-production through final release.
• Own pitches and present to partners and IP holders.
• Define audience, player promise, and key differentiators.
• Collaborate with directors across art, narrative, audio, engineering, and production.
• Balance ambition with schedule, budget and technical realities.
• Coach and mentor the design team, and drive collaboration.

Skills

Game design leadership

Pitching for new projects

Experience with licensed IP

Team leadership

English communication

Education

Degree in Game Design/Interactive Media or related field

Job description

PLAY, GROW and WIN

To be a part of Virtuos means to be a creator.

At Virtuos, we harness the latest technologies to make games better and more immersive than ever before. That is why we pride ourselves in constantly pushing the boundaries of possibility since our founding in 2004.

Virtuosi is a team of experts – people who have come together to share their mutual passion for making and playing games. People with the same enthusiasm for exploring new ideas and the constant drive to excel in their field. People who believe in earning success through dedication.

At Virtuos, we are at the forefront of gaming, creating exciting new experiences daily. Join us to Play, Grow and Win – together.

ABOUT THE POSITION

We're looking for a Creative Director to lead a full-development project built on an established IP, from the pitch through to final release. You'll hold the creative vision for the game, act as the main creative link with the partners and IP holder and lead the design team. You'll work with the project's directors and leads to turn that vision into a high-quality game.

This is a full-development role with real creative ownership. The IP already exists, but the game is ours to shape. You'll help win the project, set its creative direction, and drive it through to release.

Responsibilities

Pitching and Opportunity Development

• Work with studio leadership and the core team to identify opportunities that suit the studio's strengths and market context.

• Lead pitches for new projects, including pitches built on existing IPs, shaping materials that communicate the product proposition, target audience, distinctive experience, and creative vision.

• Turn a partner brief into a creative proposal that shows how the team will honour the IP and what it will add.

• Present and champion the vision to partners and IP holders, building confidence in the project while using their feedback to strengthen the proposal without losing its core promise.

Partners and IP Partnership

• Act as the main creative point of contact for the partner and IP holder, from the pitch through to release.

• Build a deep understanding of the IP, including its world, characters, tone, visual identity, and audience.

• Own the creative direction of the game, making bold choices that stay true to the spirit of the IP.

• Lead creative reviews with the partners and IP holder, present work clearly, and turn their feedback into clear direction for the team.

• Find fresh ideas that work for both existing fans of the IP and new players.

• Build a relationship of trust, so that the partners and IP holder see the team as a creative partner.

Product and Creative Vision

• Shape and champion the product vision with studio and project leadership and the partners, defining the intended audience, player promise, product proposition, and points of difference.

• Translate that product vision into a clear creative direction and design principles that guide gameplay, narrative, world, art direction, and the overall player experience.

• Keep product and creative decisions aligned throughout full development, balancing ambition with player needs, project scope, schedule, budget, and technical realities.

Full-development leadership

• Lead the creative direction from pre-production through development and final release.

• Partner with production to establish goals and milestones, manage creative priorities, and keep work aligned with agreed scope, schedule, and budget.

• Work with the project's directors and leads in art, narrative, animation, audio, engineering, and production, setting the creative direction they deliver in their own fields.

• Give direction and feedback that respects each lead's expertise and leave specialist decisions to them.

• Bring disciplines together around shared goals, encourage early collaboration, and help teams resolve trade-offs, with the player experience as the deciding factor.

• Collaborate with Virtuos sister studios and partners, providing direction and feedback across the wider project team.

Design team leadership

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing design team.

• Coach and mentor designers, supporting their growth and setting clear development goals.

• Contribute to design-team hiring plans with studio management and Recruitment, aligned with project needs.

• Foster a collaborative, inclusive environment where teams can do their best creative work.

Qualifications

• At least 13 years of experience in game design, including a minimum of 5 years in a leadership role.

• Experience in a senior creative or design leadership role on at least 2 shipped AAA titles.

• A track record of leading AAA work through full development, with substantial responsibility for creative direction from concept through release.

• A track record of leading or contributing to successful pitches, including presenting directly to partners, publishers, or IP holders.

• Experience developing games on licensed or established IP, including working within an IP holder's guidelines and review process.

• Strong knowledge of game design principles, mechanics, storytelling, and player experience.

• A broad working knowledge of art, narrative, animation, audio, and technology: enough to give useful direction and understand trade-offs, while relying on each director or lead for the detail.

• The ability to communicate a clear creative vision and guide teams toward it across a complex development cycle.

• Strong leadership and mentoring skills, with a collaborative, low-ego style: you direct through clarity and influence, listen to the team, and explain the reasons behind your decisions.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams, partners, IP holders, and distributed studio partners.

• Fluency in written and spoken English, and confidence presenting and collaborating in video meetings.

Also valued

• A degree in Game Design, Interactive Media, or a related field; relevant experience is equally welcome.

• Established relationships in the games industry that can support collaboration and pitching.

What success looks like

• The studio wins the project, and the shipped game delivers what the pitch promised.

• The partners and IP holder trust the creative direction, and reviews move forward without major surprises.

• The project has a clear creative vision that teams can understand and apply throughout development.

• Design decisions support a cohesive player experience and remain aligned with project goals.

• The design team is well led, supported, and equipped to meet project needs.

• Creative work progresses against agreed milestones, scope, schedule, and budget through to release.

• The studio is better positioned to develop and pitch ambitious full-development projects.

• Being part of one of the largest and fastest-growing game development studios in Ireland
• Dynamic career paths contributing to some of the world’s biggest AAA titles in gaming
• Opportunities to grow in a tight-knit community with a people-oriented culture
• Healthy work-life balance and flexible work arrangements
• Comprehensive company healthcare plan
• Occupational Pension Scheme (including employer contribution)
• Global training and development plans - study support, formal education, international experience, career planning and progression opportunities
• Bank for paid sick leave and wellness leave
• Subsidised leave
• Relocation support
• Taxsaver plans
• Career and international mobility opportunities with Virtuos Internal Mobility Program

People matter. Diverse opinions and experiences matter. At Virtuos, our talented teams are the cornerstone of our success, and we recognize that fostering and advocating for inclusivity is at the center of what we do best - we make games better, together. Virtuos is proud to be an equal opportunity employer that embraces diversity of thought, expression, culture, and backgrounds.

Founded in 2004, Virtuos is one of the largest independent video game development companies. We are headquartered in Singapore with offices in Asia, Europe, and North America. Specializing in full-cycle game development and art production, we have delivered high-quality content for more than 1,500 console, PC, and mobile games. Our clients include 23 of the top 25 gaming companies worldwide.

About Our Team

Black Shamrock was founded in 2016 and acquired by the Virtuos Group in 2017. The studio is Ireland’s largest PC and console game development studio and provides unique opportunities to work on multiple AAA titles. Our people are as diverse, exciting, creative, and dynamic as the projects that we work on. Black Shamrock is a place for talent to flourish and lifelong industry connections to begin.

Our in-house and full-service capabilities include narrative, game, sound and level design, animation, art, rigging, engineering, and graphics, to name a few areas our skilled team members work on. At Black Shamrock, we take pride in helping put Dublin on the world map as the birthplace of award-winning AAA games.