Lead Systems Designer - Sledgehammer Games Toronto

Your Mission 

Your mission is to develop, implement and tune player-first experiences that will be enjoyed by millions of gamers across the globe. You must thrive in a challenging and often ambiguous environment.  An agile and flexible mindset is also necessary since this position must deal with a wide variety of internal and external partners.  Excellent and persuasive communication skills are a must. 

• Interpret high-level vision into clear guidance for the team, holding regular reviews and providing iterative feedback to meet the required quality bar. 

• Manage a team of designers and help to better the processes and workflows for systems design. 

• Strive for deep systems design that focuses on elevating the gameplay experience with fewer, more impactful systems. 

• Work with user research during playtests to identify iterative improvements and changes. 

• Build effective working relationships with key creative and production collaborators across SHG, helping to ensure consistency of output from the studio. 

Previous Experience 

• 8+ years of industry experience working in the field of systems design on AAA titles. 

• 2+ years of experience as a lead systems designer, with at least one shipped title in this position.  

• Expansive knowledge of game design with appreciation and understanding for the other fields. 

• Ability to pitch concepts clearly and concisely, and which demonstrate critical thinking. 

• Experience working with proprietary engines and toolsets including Unreal. 

• Strong understanding of First-Person gameplay experiences including gameplay mechanics, feel, and feedback. 

• Great technical skills and solid scripting/coding experience. 

• Strong problem-solving skills. 

• Hunger for gaming with a broad range of game experience. 

• An analytical approach and the ability to break down complex problems into consumable and relevant pieces for others. 

• Experience taking major AAA console and PC games from concept to completion. 

• Exceptional verbal, written, and interpersonal communications skills.