Lead Game Designer
Job Summary
Job Description
Sports Interactive seeks a Lead Game Designer to spearhead the design of Football Manager features, systems, and balance. This role involves mentoring and developing a team of Game Designers, defining design quality standards, and collaborating with various departments (UI/UX, Narrative, Gameplay, Programming, Art, QA). Responsibilities include managing designer workload, providing design feedback, advocating for modern workflows, and ensuring alignment of creative intent across disciplines. The ideal candidate possesses deep Football Manager expertise, strong design methodologies, and excellent communication and leadership skills.
Must have:
- Deep understanding of game design
- Experience mentoring game designers
- In-depth Football Manager knowledge
- Excellent communication & leadership
- Software proficiency (Miro, Confluence etc.)
Good to have:
- Unity experience
- Scripting experience
Perks:
- Flexible working policy
- Subsidized mental health services
- Contributory pension scheme
- Onsite bar & breakfast
- Regular events
- Onsite therapist services
- Clubs & societies
- Free SEGA games
- Gym membership options
- Healthcare & dental plans
- Free travel insurance
- Personalized football shirt
9 skills required
Job Details
Description
Job Title: Lead Game Designer
Team: Design
Reporting into: Head of Design
Employment Type: Permanent
Studio Overview
We are Sports Interactive 🎮
The gaming studio behind: ⚽ Football Manager.
Founded in 1994, Sports Interactive became a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA Europe in 2006. Based at the Here East technology hub in Stratford, East London, the SI team continues to expand as we bring our titles to an ever-growing audience across an increasing variety of platforms.
To support our growth, we welcome the opportunity to connect with passionate people with the drive to match our ambitions and initiative to realise your individual potential.
Position Overview
Sports Interactive are looking for a talented Lead Game Designer to work on the Football Manager franchise. Reporting to the Head of Design and collaborating with the UI/UX, Narrative & Game Design teams, Game Director and Production, you will be setting the quality bar for the game features, systems and balancing of Football Manager, the world’s leading football management simulation.
You will be responsible for the mentoring, growing and developing of our talented team of Game Designers whilst also delivering standard-setting designs, methodologies, documentation and workflows to translate ideas and concepts into meaningful gameplay experiences.
You will be responsible for the mentoring, growing and developing of our talented team of Game Designers whilst also delivering standard-setting designs, methodologies, documentation and workflows to translate ideas and concepts into meaningful gameplay experiences.
The successful candidate is organised, self-motivated and an exceptional cross-discipline communicator. You are keen to share your expertise and committed to the constant improvement of your own skills and knowledge as well as that of the team.
You will join a passionate and flourishing team who care deeply about Football Manager, its quality and accuracy as the world’s leading football management simulation game.
Key Responsibilities
- Supervise and organise the workload of Game Designers working closely with production to manage the day-to-day operations
- Mentor and upskill the game design team through regular one to ones, peer review, objective setting and appraisals to aid their personal development
- Provide feedback, validation and approval on the designs produced by the wider team in collaboration with the Head of Design
- Define clear quality guidelines for game design documentation and specifications and ensure they are followed
- Advocate for and help build modern documentation and implementation working environments for game, narrative and system designers
- Work with other key teams, such as Gameplay, UI, Comms, Programming, Art and QA to help ensure goals from other disciplines are aligned with our creative intent
- Help assess the quality and usability of features via collaboration with usability testing and in-house play testing
- Keep up to date with the latest thinking and innovations within game design theory and software to ensure the team are working towards the highest industry standards and state-of-the-art tools
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
- Deep understanding of video game design and methodologies
- Strong software knowledge of appropriate tools such as Miro, Confluence, Airtable and Excel
- Have released several games as an individual contributor and at least one in leadership position
- Experience mentoring and coaching fellow Game Designers with a drive to be an effective and empathetic leader
- Excellent delegation, time-management and prioritisation skills
- Able to work with a clear structure and share methodologies and workflows with the wider team
- Highly reliable from a performance and communication standpoint
- A team-focused mentality to leverage their colleagues' expertise, and drive progress and performance at a team's level
- In-depth experience with Football Manager is essential with a passion for Football desirable
- Some experience with Unity preferred
- Some scripting experience is a plus
Benefits of Working at Sports Interactive:
A flexible working policy to best suit you and your team. 🏠
Subsidised mental health, therapy and coaching sessions are available. 😌
Contributory Pension Scheme (up to 7% of annual salary). 🏦
Free onsite evening bar in the Sports Interactive London HQ. 🍹
A well-stocked breakfast bar with cereals, fruits, teas, and coffees. 🥣
Regular events in collaboration with our partnered football clubs. 🏟️
Access to our on-site physical and massage therapist services. 💆
Multiple clubs and societies to join e.g., book club and art workshops. 🫶
Free access to games released under the SEGA Europe umbrella. 🕹️
A range of Gym Membership options through our Benefits partners. 🏋️
Fully Subsidised Healthcare and Dental Plans. 🦷
Free Travel Insurance for yourself and your family. ✈️
A personalized football shirt upon passing probation. 👕
What is it like to work here?
We approach everything with passion, whether that is making our mark on the gaming and football industries or doing our bit for the world around us. We want to share that outlook with everyone who shows up to work here each day.
For us, talent wins games, but teamwork wins titles. Collaboration is the key to constantly topping our best. We believe everyone matters, no matter which part of the business you are in, so we encourage and support our people in driving your own growth and realising your full potential. But, more than anything else, we are a team. A team with a down-to-earth dynamic, that has a lot of fun doing what we do.
And whether that’s technical tweaks or fine-tuning our creative process, everything is geared at producing the best game possible for our players. To do that, we need to be tenacious and move quickly, and not be afraid of switching things up. It is these principles that have enabled us to produce a game that has defined year after year, and that will continue to push us for many more to come.
Our flexible working culture gives you the opportunity to optimise your workload, with in-office, hybrid, and remote working options dependent on role. So, if you want a work/life balance, we are behind you. Because while we live to create extraordinary games, we know that is not all you have got going on. You can trust that we always keep things in perspective, fostering an environment where work can be more than just a job.
We’re also a London Living Wage employer, boast one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the industry and are proud to have won the ‘Best Places to Work’ award by Gamesindustry.biz in large company category in 2023.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from any relevant candidate irrespective of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion, or belief.
SI is proudly a Disability Confident Committed employer, and we are dedicated to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Our studio has disabled access and facilities but please ensure you advise us if you require any other reasonable adjustments to be made to support you during the recruitment process.
Our Values:
Keep collaborating: Teamwork wins titles - Here, ideas belong to everyone, whatever department you’re part of. Collaboration lets us score more as a team than we could individually.
Be flexible: We think fast and adapt faster. The football and entertainment worlds never stand still, so we keep progressing and switching things up to stay ahead.
Stay Tenacious: We don’t overlook the details. Everything we do is about producing the best game possible, in other words, never settle.
Show Ambition: Let your drive lead the way - Your individual outlook can give everyone the edge. Make the studio’s purpose personal and let your drive lead the way.
Bring the Passion: Have fun doing your thing - Don’t be fooled, what we do is not a game. Making our players’ passion come to life is our passion.
Consider the Bigger Picture: Keep things in perspective - We want our impact to be a positive one. From built-in work/life balance to initiatives covering the most important topics of today, we have what matters in focus.
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About The Company
Sports Interactive is a video game developer owned by SEGA, responsible for the well-loved Football Manager series.
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