Design Director, Gameplay

Who We Are

Founded in 2005, 2K Games is a global video game company, publishing titles developed by some of the most influential game development studios in the world. 2K publishes titles in today’s most popular gaming genres, including sports, shooters, action, role-playing, strategy, casual, and family entertainment. Our studios responsible for developing 2K’s portfolio of world-class games across multiple platforms include Visual Concepts, Firaxis, Hangar 13, CatDaddy, Cloud Chamber, and HB Studios. Our portfolio of titles is expanding due to our global strategic plan, building and acquiring exciting studios whose content continues to inspire all of us!

Located in Vancouver, BC, 2K Sports Lab is a small collective being formed within 2K Games that is driving the research and development of future sports interactive entertainment programs. Within this group, speculative work will be done on future sports games with an eye towards taking the magic of 2K’s publishing and development expertise and applying them to future opportunities.

Our team of engineers, marketers, artists, writers, data scientists, producers, thinkers and doers, are the professional publishing stewards of our growing library of critically-acclaimed franchises such as NBA 2K, 2K PGA, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Lego Drive, BioShock, Borderlands, The Quarry, Mafia, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, WWE 2K, and XCOM.

At 2K, we pride ourselves on creating an inclusive work environment, which means encouraging our teams to Come as You Are and do your best work! We encourage ALL applicants to explore our global positions, even if they don’t meet every requirement for the role.  If you're interested in the job and think you have what it takes to work at 2K, we encourage you to apply!

What We Need

Our studio is looking for an experienced Design Director who has a high quality bar, a passion for replicating authentic sports behaviors and experience in creating a systemic and sophisticated second to second gameplay.

In this role, you will be both leading others and also working hands on.  You will work closely with AI, Animation and Systems Engineers, Animators, Designers and Producers to help lay the foundation, then build and innovate upon it to create world class gameplay for what will be the next massive sports franchise in our industry.

The Design Director will drive the long-term vision for our sec-to-sec gameplay and partner with production and tech peers to lead a sizable team of developers to deliver against the vision.

The Design Director will report directly to Studio Leadership.

What You’ll Do

• Be the ‘Product Owner’ for our gameplay team
  • Acquire an intimate knowledge of our target player and our product goals
  • Acquire an intimate knowledge of the competitive landscape
  • Work with the ‘Head of Design’ to define the vision for our gameplay
  • Partner with producer and tech peers to lead your team
  • Drive the generation and prioritization of your team’s backlog
  • Collaborate with the QA team to drive testing of the game experience and drive external testing as needed
  • Evaluate progress and game quality and partner with Production to formulate and revise plans to drive execution
• Build a team
  • Work with your production and tech leaders to define team shape
  • Work with your production and tech leaders to hire talent
• Direct your design team to ‘craft the design’ of our gameplay experience
  • Espouse WGLL for design process and documentation
  • Manage the timely generation of design documentation
  • Collaborate with your reports to generate design direction documentation
  • Review and approve designs from members of your team
• Inspire and align the Studio on your vision for Gameplay
  • Passionately and clearly present visions to the team
  • Share design material in asynchronous ways to aid visibility
  • Work closely with Engineers, Animators, and Artists to implement your vision
  • Present the game publicly to press as we approach release.
• Mentor and manage your design team
  • Champion our framework for designer responsibilities a 2KSL
  • Be a source of knowledge and experience for other team members
  • Manage and contribute to positive morale and a healthy team culture
• Be an ‘individual contributor’ when time allows
  • Understand the technical details of how the game works
  • Exemplify WGLL by being keen and able to be in engine in order to deliver the strongest possible experience

What Will Make You A Great Fit

• Passion for Sports and Sports Video Games
• Experience directing and delivering ‘product defining’ high quality ‘second-to-second’ game experiences
• Experience with, and passion for, systemic game design
• Experience leading a design team (5+)
• Experience directing a sizeable development team (20+)
• Experience working with Animation SEs and Animators and is familiar with animation technology (Blend techniques, Masking, Procedural Animation etc.).
• Appetite for taking on ‘Product Owner’ responsibilities (backlog management and prioritization)
• Positive, ‘can do’, proactive and ‘hands-on’ attitude

Beneficial Qualifications

• Passion for sports
• Experience working on sports games
• Experience with animation based features
• Experience with AI based features

The pay range for this position in British Columbia, Canada at the start of employment is expected to be between 153,300 and 229,020 CAD per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an 'at-will position' and the company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform their essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us if you need reasonable accommodation.

Please note that 2K Games and its studios never uses instant messaging apps or personal email accounts to contact prospective employees or conduct interviews and when emailing, only use 2K.com accounts. 

 
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