Game Design Director - The Sims 4

Locations: This is a fully remote position, available across European locations in the above location list.

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims , we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

In this role, you will focus on setting the vision for packs for The Sims 4 and partner with the leadership team in Europe to foster studio culture as the game design craft lead. The Sims is one of the top-selling PC game franchises of all time and The Sims 4 is by far our most successful Sims game. We have more than 70 million registered players of the base game. To date, The Sims 4 has shipped over 60 content packs and countless base game feature and quality of life updates. The Sims 4 continues to transcend being “just a game” and continues to be a positive force in people’s lives while occupying a unique creative space in the game industry. We're excited you're interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big. For more information about The Sims , follow @TheSims on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, like The Sims on Facebook, visit TheSims.com newsroom and tune into Behind The Sims on YouTube for the latest news and updates.

You will report to the Senior Creative Director.

Location: Remote Europe - open to most European locations

Responsibilities:

• Define, champion, and lead the holistic vision for Packs (DLC), partnering with the Senior Creative Director and Design Directors on overall product vision.
• Provide design direction and feedback, oversee design quality, and refine processes that empower the design team to understand and build towards a vision.
• Ensure best practices for design methodology, communication of designs, and manage relationships with cross-functional partner teams.
• Guide player-centered and data-informed design processes to provide world-class creative solutions using both quantitative and qualitative player insights.
• Collaborate with the Lead Producer and Directors from various departments, including engineering, art, animation, user experience, user research, quality assurance, and project management.
• Partner with team Leads and Development Directors (project & design managers) to prioritize designs, track tasks, identify risks, and clarify changes.
• Become knowledgeable on Maxis’ proprietary game designer development tools to guide designer work, help solve creative solutions within technical constraints, and partner with the Technical Game Design Director on tools requirements.
• Partner with Game Design Leadership, Development Directors, and Studio Leaders in order to provide game design career mentorship and scale operations in the European studio.
• Champion positive workplace culture and diversity and inclusion when it comes to game design decisions, hiring practices, and mentorship needs of the team.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in a game design role within the gaming industry, 3+ years in a lead or director role.
• Expertise in setting the vision for DLC or new game development.
• Expertise in management, coaching, and mentoring.
• Expertise within the genres of cozy and/or simulation games.
• Expertise with proprietary game design tools, game design implementation, and development environments.
• Expertise setting vision and breaking down work into development plans.
• Expertise building worlds and gameplay spaces that support and expand on established lore and systems capabilities.
• Expertise with multiple stages of development, from pre-production through updating live experiences.
• Experience with change management and improving team operations.
• Experience working with research departments and product management to establish tests and interpret data to improve the design.

Desirable Skills

• Experience with large teams.
• Worked on a AAA HD title or shipped a mobile cozy/simulation game.
• Experience working in Waterfall and Agile environments.
• Design experience on games that focus on open-ended player creativity.
• Familiarity with games with high customization & creativity, and modding communities (ex: Roblox, Minecraft, The Sims).

Visit us at: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/maxis