Principal Level Designer

Certain Affinity; Austin (TX); On-site; CAD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Certain Affinity is seeking a Principal Level Designer to lead AAA level creation in a Toronto-anchored, cross-border team. You’ll shape mission flow, create intricate levels, and drive the integration of gameplay, narrative, art, and engineering across projects.

You bring twelve+ years in level design, shipped AAA shooter experience, and strong leadership to mentor teams while elevating design standards and player experiences.

Qualifications

• Twelve+ years as a level designer with shipped AAA shooter experience.
• Evidence of leading and supporting a quality-driven team.
• Strong grasp of level design principles ( pacing, tension, difficulty ).
• Ability to support narrative through level design and cross-discipline collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Drive development of intricate game levels for a high-profile AAA shooter.
• Ensure convergence of levels and gameplay loops to reduce player friction.
• Define and drive quality of game space flow and level design standards.
• Collaborate with teams to showcase core mechanics through level design.
• Lead level design through objectives, challenges, puzzles, and events.
• Support narrative through levels with cross-team collaboration.
• Provide weekly feedback to leads and drive playtests to gather insights.
• Build and communicate best practices for the studio's level design team.

Skills

Level design

Leadership

Narrative integration

Collaboration with gameplay

Scripting/encounters

Analytical problem-solving

Cross-discipline collaboration

Iterative development

Gaming passion

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

UnrealEd

Radiant

3ds Max

Maya

Job description

Would you like to work on some of the greatest franchises in gaming history? What about working on our new original IP? Certain Affinity is a game developer in Texas, based out of Austin, and we have a growing presence in Toronto, Canada. Our culture reflects the values and the vibrant nature of the cities we call home. This includes a commitment to evolution, diversity, excellence, and work-life balance. We are also excited to be the latest recipient of the Canadian Studio of the Year award. We're best known for co-developing numerous AAA FPS games, though now we are creating compelling new games of our own. We're always on the lookout for amazing talent to join our team.

As Principal Level Designer at Certain Affinity, you are responsible for creating, implementing and bringing innovative ideas to the levels for AAA projects. You will work extensively with the mission, gameplay and world teams to develop requirements for in-game spaces. Your wide range of skills encompasses both the creative and technical worlds, allowing you to successfully arrange and balance the flow of game spaces so that players, AI, and mission systems have cohesive experience. You will be a subject matter expert for all things level design, helping to shape the studio’s level design program and sharing your expertise with the rest of the design team. If you have extensive experience creating and owning maps and mission designs, establishing design standards, considerable implementation experience, are eager to have an impact, motivated to support the needs of both development teams and external partners, and are open to new challenges, we’d like to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Driving the development of intricate game levels for a high-profile AAA shooter
• Ensure the convergence of levels and gameplay loops to eliminate friction for the player experience
• Define and drive quality with regards to the flow of created game spaces
• Collaborate with the development team to brainstorm creative ways to implement and showcase the game’s core mechanics through level design
• Drive the design and creative process for game levels, working with other teams to create objectives, challenges, puzzles, and events that fit within game spaces
• Collaborate with the narrative and mission team of designers, engineers, cinematic artists, and writers to ensure the local and overarching narrative is being told in the levels
• Assist the Lead Game Designer in reviewing levels, as well as full builds of the game and providing weekly feedback to the project leads and development team
• Help drive playtests to gather critical level feedback from players and develop a plan of action to address issues
• Build, document and communicate best practices for the studio’s level design department

Requirements

• At least twelve years of experience as a level designer
• Shipped at least one AAA Shooter PC or console title in a an Advanced Level Designer role or higher
• Experience leading and supporting a quality-driven team
• A thorough grasp of good level design principles (difficulty, risk, and reward, pacing, tension, etc.)
• Proven ability of supporting narrative through level design
• Ability to use world building tools such as UnrealEd, Radiant, Max and/or Maya
• Strong layout skills - building and owning spaces from the ground up, working with art and gameplay teams to bring them through production
• Experience in encounter design and scripting
• Experience with advanced mission scripting or coding
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and methodology
• Ability to collaborate with cross-discipline teams including art, audio, engineering, and narrative
• Thrives in a highly iterative, highly collaborative environment
• Passionate about gaming and game development!

Extra Credit

• Shipped at least one AAA game in Unreal Engine
• Bachelor’s (BA) degree from an accredited four-year college or university or equivalent experience in design, game development, or architecture
• Experience developing for modern consoles

Salary Range: 150K-190K CAD

Certain Affinity or its partners or affiliates run background checks on candidates or employees with written authorization from the candidates or employees. These may be done to offer employment or determine eligibility to work on a specific project. Multiple searches may be required.

Certain Affinity is authorized to do business in many, but not all, of the states in the US and the Canadian provinces. If you are not located in or able to work from a state where Certain Affinity is registered, you may not be eligible for employment as a fully remote employee. Please speak with your recruiter to learn more about where we are registered.