Senior Mission Designer II - StarCraft | Irvine, CA

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC.; Irvine (CA); Hybrid; USD 99,000 - 184,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Paid holidays and vacation

Mental health programs

Job summary

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is seeking a Senior Missions Designer in Irvine, CA to craft narrative-driven open-world mission experiences for StarCraft. You’ll ship missions from concept to ship, shaping dialogue, layout, and combat encounters within a fast-paced, highly iterative team environment.

The role emphasizes collaboration across design, art, code, audio, and VFX, with a hybrid workweek based at the Irvine studio. Prior AAA experience and cross-functional teamwork are essential.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience creating missions/quests, layout, and the frameworks that missions are built from.
• Experience with technical design, scripting, and level design.
• Proven experience shipping AAA titles.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams in feature development.
• Experience across a variety of platforms, particularly PC and console.
• Experience using traditional AAA game development tools and engines.
• A team-oriented approach to your work, understanding the importance of collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Design and build captivating layouts and locations that align with the game’s narrative and gameplay goals.
• Integrate gameplay mechanics, challenges, combat, and puzzles into mission designs to enhance player engagement and exploration.
• Collaborate with other designers, artists, code, audio, VFX, and animation departments to a compelling holistic player experience.
• Deliver high-quality results and build progress towards short- to medium- to long-term deliverables/releases, from iterative prototyping to execution.
• Prototype and create engaging missions or mission components in-engine to a AAA standard that integrate player fantasy, narrative, and gameplay.

Skills

Mission design

Technical design

Scripting

Level design

Cross-functional teams

Combat design

Tools

Unreal Engine

Blueprint scripting

Job description

Team Name: StarCraft Job Title: Senior Mission Designer II - StarCraft | Irvine, CA Requisition ID: R028153

Job Description: Blizzard Entertainment is assembling a team to build the next chapter of StarCraft, returning to a universe forged in interstellar war. This mission offers something new: crafting an original story-driven, open-world shooter while honoring the legacy of one of Blizzard's most beloved games. We are here to reignite this universe alongside you. We are here to make StarCraft, and it's about damn time. As a Senior Missions Designer, you will be responsible for bringing to life memorable and highly engaging locations that weave excellent storytelling with satisfying gameplay. You have proven experience working in a team dynamic and are comfortable building missions from concept to ship, looking at everything from dialogue to layout composition and combat encounters. When particularly hard problems arise, you will draw upon the team's collective creativity and experience to finalize designs that meet the needs of the game. You will collaborate with an experienced team at a fast pace with a highly iterative feedback process. This role offers a hybrid work week, with a mix of work-from-home and on-site days, based out of our Irvine studio.

Responsibilities

• Design and build captivating layouts and locations that align with the game’s narrative and gameplay goals.
• Integrate gameplay mechanics, challenges, combat, and puzzles into mission designs to enhance player engagement and exploration.
• Collaborate with other designers, artists, code, audio, VFX, and animation departments to a compelling holistic player experience.
• Deliver high-quality results and build progress towards short- to medium- to long-term deliverables/releases, from iterative prototyping to execution.
• Prototype and create engaging missions or mission components in-engine to a AAA standard that integrate player fantasy, narrative, and gameplay.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience creating missions/quests, layout, and the frameworks that missions are built from, or combination of related education and experience.
• Experience with technical design, scripting, and level design.
• Proven experience shipping AAA titles.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams in feature development.
• Experience across a variety of platforms, particularly PC and console.
• Experience using traditional AAA game development tools and engines.
• A team-oriented approach to your work, understanding the importance of collaboration, and partnering with all departments.

Extra Points

• Experience with Unreal Engine and Blueprint scripting.
• A background in combat design, content design, or tools development.
• Experience with programming or in technical roles.
• Enjoy playing a variety of video game genres and titles.

Your Platform Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences.

Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Our World Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet! Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment.

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The video game industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [e-mail].

General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here.

Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.

You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $99,200.00 - $183,520.00 Annual.

These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations.

Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process.

In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable. Blizzard Entertainment® is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software. After establishing the Blizzard Entertainment label in 1994, the company quickly became one of the most popular and well-respected makers of computer games. By focusing on creating well-designed, highly enjoyable entertainment experiences, Blizzard Entertainment has maintained an unparalleled reputation for quality since its inception.