LEAD GAME DESIGNER

Templar Media; Alpharetta (GA); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Templar Media in Alpharetta, GA is seeking a Lead Designer to shape the complete player experience of our titles and to grow the design capabilities of the team.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years of design experience, shipped titles in single and multiplayer, excels at cross‑functional collaboration, and isn’t afraid to push the envelope. This is a full‑time onsite role with a competitive salary and benefits.

Qualifications

• Lead Designer experience on at least one product from start to finish.
• Strong ability to coordinate and get the best out of a varied and diverse team of designers.
• At least 7 years of experience as a designer.
• Shipped title experience with both single player campaigns and multiplayer.
• Excellent design skills and thorough understanding of game design theory.
• Demonstrated ability and desire to “think outside the box”; challenge existing design paradigms.
• Ability to clearly articulate complicated systems to other team members and senior management.
• Strong communication and inter-personal skills, leading to a demonstrated ability to work within a collaborative team structure.
• Minimum of 2 shipped products with design credit.

Responsibilities

• Drive the creation and refinement of game designs.
• Coordinate with the Game Director and Producer to help define scope, schedule design tasks and meet milestone demands.
• Perform ongoing design to iterate on, improve, and flesh out the game design throughout the development process from early design to post release add-ons.
• Work closely with the Lead Level Designer to manage the creation of levels.
• Work with all departments on the scheduling and integration of the game design, as well as game feature development goals and execution.
• Lead, coordinate and participate in collaborative efforts to implement and balance gameplay features, based on the design.
• Mentor the design team to grow their skill sets and capabilities.
• Establish and maintain best practices and processes for the design team, proactively improving how we do design.
• Maintain communications with all team members, team leads and executive management,internally and externally.
• Suggest and lead process improvement initiatives.

Skills

Lead Designer leadership

Team coordination

Game design

Communication

Design theory

Multiplayer design

Open-world design

Tools

Unreal Engine

Blueprint scripting

Job description

Templar Media is currently looking for a Lead Designer to join the Templar team!

About Templar: As an independent developer and publisher, Templar develops the games that we want, on our own schedule. We are actively staffing up for both in-house game development and supporting published titles. Templar provides a professional yet non-corporate environment where every team member’s input and collaboration matters. Based in Alpharetta, GA just north of Atlanta, Templar is in the perfect area for those that enjoy sunny weather and a relatively low cost of living.

About the Role: As Lead Designer you will have the opportunity to shape the complete player experience of Templar games and to grow the design capabilities of a great design team even further. The Lead Designer should have excellent game design ability in both single and multiplayer and be a proven leader. Finally, the perfect candidate will be a designer that doesn’t accept the status quo and is willing to push the envelope in their designs and try new things. Do you have the skills, experience and ability we’re looking for?

Responsibilities:

• Drive the creation and refinement of game designs
• Coordinate with the Game Director and Producer to help define scope, schedule design tasks and meet milestone demands
• Perform ongoing design to iterate on, improve, and flesh out the game design throughout the development process from early design to post release add-ons
• Work closely with the Lead Level Designer to manage the creation of levels
• Work with all departments on the scheduling and integration of the game design, as well as game feature development goals and execution
• Lead, coordinate and participate in collaborative efforts to implement and balance gameplay features, based on the design
• Mentor the design team to grow their skill sets and capabilities
• Establish and maintain best practices and processes for the design team, proactively improving how we do design
• Maintain communications with all team members, team leads and executive management,internally and externally
• Suggest and lead process improvement initiatives

Qualifications:

• Lead Designer experience on at least one product from start to finish
• Strong ability to coordinate and get the best out of a varied and diverse team of designers
• At least 7 years of experience as a designer
• Shipped title experience with both single player campaigns and multiplayer
• Excellent design skills and thorough understanding of game design theory
• Demonstrated ability and desire to “think outside the box”; when designing, challenge existing design paradigms, and push the envelope of design
• Ability to clearly articulate complicated systems to other team members and senior management
• Strong communication and inter-personal skills, leading to a demonstrated ability to work within a collaborative team structure
• Minimum of 2 shipped products with design credit

Preference to Applicants With:

• Unreal Engine 4/5 experience
• Experience with both single-player and multiplayer gameplay design.
• Experience with open-world or co-op game design.
• Experience with combat and stealth game design
• Familiarity with mission, quest, or dialogue systems.
• Understanding of Unreal’s Blueprint system and scripting workflows.
• A love of games, especially action-adventure and cooperative titles.

Templar offers a highly competitive salary and benefits package and a professional but non-corporate environment. This position is full-time onsite at our studio in Alpharetta, GA.