Lead World Designer

As a Lead World Designer, you will own the design, structure, and player experience, leading the team on our latest game world. You will drive the creation of all world content and core features that bring the environment to life. This role involves leading internal team members and collaborating with external co-development partners to ensure their work aligns with the creative vision, technical standards, and production goals. Onsite presence at the Brighton Studio for at least 3 days a week is required.

Must Have

• Own the high-level world map to support key player paths and systemic gameplay
• Define the World Design visual language and metrics, ensuring consistent application
• Partner with Art, Mission, and Narrative Leads for cohesive environmental storytelling, visual direction, state management, and gameplay
• Supervise the design and implementation of World Districts, World Activities, non-Mission areas, and their Population
• Evangelize World features across the project and develop best practices for designers
• Analyse, validate, and incorporate feedback from the team and external user testing
• Author and maintain design documentation
• Lead a team of designers to shape the game world
• Foster a collaborative and high-performance culture by empowering the team
• Review, debug, and provide constructive critique on designer-created content
• Collaborate with Production to ensure delivery of features, systems, and assets on time and to required quality
• Oversee and direct the workflow of external partners and co-development teams
• Provide coaching and mentoring to the team
• Helped shipped at least one AAA game in Unreal in a Lead World Design role or similar
• Ability to drive prioritization and scheduling of work for the whole department
• Strong collaboration skills, able to work well with team members from other disciplines and in other locations
• Proven experience in leadership topics and coaching individuals

Good to Have

• Experience managing outsourced or distributed content teams
• Strong documentation skills, proficiency with Wiki systems or Confluence is a plus
• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience, in Design or other related discipline

Who We Are

Hangar 13 is an internal 2K development studio that crafts unforgettable AAA gaming experiences across all major platforms . With studios in Brighton (UK), Brno, and Prague (CZ), we work as one team to bring to life narrative-rich games that keep players immersed. Each of our locations provides the opportunity to work with some of the most talented developers in the industry, on creatively challenging and exciting projects, in a diverse and welcoming environment.

Job Summary

As a Lead World Designer you will own the design, structure, and player experience as well as Lead the team on our latest game world. You will drive the creation of all world content and the core features that bring our environment to life.

In addition to leading internal team members, you will also oversee and collaborate with external co-development partners, ensuring their work aligns with our creative vision, technical standards, and production goals.

Please note that we do require someone to be onsite at our Brighton Studio at least 3 days a week.

Duties and Responsibilities

Design

• Own the high-level world map to support key player paths and systemic gameplay
• Define the World Design visual language (e.g., object density, traversal speeds, level of detail) and metrics, and ensure their consistent application
• Partner with the Art, Mission and Narrative Leads to ensure a cohesive blend of environmental storytelling, visual direction, state management, and gameplay across the World's Golden Path and all Districts
• Supervise the design and implementation of World Districts, World Activities, non-Mission areas and their Population
• Evangelize World features across the project, develop best practices for the designers to utilize in their content
• Analyse, validate and incorporate feedback from the team and external user testing
• Author and maintain design documentation

Leadership

• Lead a team of designers to shape the game world
• Foster a collaborative and high-performance culture by empowering the team to take ownership and deliver high-quality work
• Review, debug, and provide constructive critique on designer-created content, focusing on player experience, performance, and adherence to design guidelines
• Collaborate with Production to ensure delivery of features, systems and assets, on time and to required quality
• Oversee and direct the workflow of external partners and co-development teams, ensuring their output integrates seamlessly with the internal World Design pipeline and meets internal quality standards
• Provide coaching and mentoring to the team

Essential Skills, Attributes and Experience

• Helped shipped at least one AAA game in Unreal in a Lead World Design role or similar
• Ability to drive prioritization and scheduling of work for the whole department
• Strong collaboration skills, able to work well with team members from other disciplines and in other locations
• Proven experience in leadership topics and coaching individuals

Highly Desirable

• Experience managing outsourced or distributed content teams
• Strong documentation skills, proficiency with Wiki systems or Confluence is a plus
• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience, in Design or other related discipline

Hangar 13 prides itself on the diversity of its team members, partners, and communities. For this reason, we remain committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all aspects of the employment relationship, from recruitment and hiring through compensation, benefits, discipline and termination.

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

SECURITY NOTICE - We have recently been made aware of increasing occurrences of bad actors posing as company HR personnel to gain information from "potential candidates", in the form of job interviews and offers. These scams can be quite sophisticated and appear legitimate.

Please know that Hangar 13 and 2K never use instant messaging apps to contact prospective employees or to conduct interviews.

If you believe you have been a victim of such a scam, you may fill out a complaint form at https://complaint.ic3.gov/ and https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ detailing as much as possible. We are taking these matters very seriously and apologize for any inconvenience.

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