Marathon Activities Technical Designer (Mid to Senior)

Bungie is seeking a highly technical, creative, and team-oriented Mid to Senior Technical Designer to join Marathon’s Activities Team. Our team’s mission is to create exciting, competitive encounters while maintaining experiential consistency in the PvPvE genre, as well as create the systems and tools that enable us to do so sustainably. 

As a Mid to Senior Technical Designer, you will work closely with Activity Design, AI Design, Investment Design and Engineering teams to design and implement gameplay mechanics, systems and content such as AI spawning, difficulty systems, and frameworks to create meaningful experiences for our player. You will also be responsible for leaning on those systems to create compelling encounters, events, and activities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, document, build, and maintain encounters and activities from scratch for competitive and cooperative play
• Design and implement gameplay mechanics, systems and content such as AI spawning, difficulty systems, and frameworks
• Build and maintain activity and systems content
• Solve the thorny problems at the boundaries between world and systems design
• Negotiate technical solutions and compromises between multiple teams and priorities
• Be the primary “go-to” person for implementation of complex content that stretches the capability of existing systems and projects that require heavy design/engineer interactions
• Dive into the not-so-well documented spaces between teams to understand the limitations and find creative solutions to align disciplines
• Skillfully revise design specs to meet the limitations of the engine while maintaining the defined experience goals
• Partner with multiple disciplines such as Art, Audio, Engineering, Narrative, Tech Design, Test, VFX, and more

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Previous experience as a level, scripting, or systems designer for a large-scale live-service game
• Demonstrable internal systemic philosophy and decision-making
• Good design instincts and an understanding of how core systems affect gameplay
• Be able to define and maintain production pipeline, process, and workflow
• Ability to safely trail blaze without guardrails – then build the guardrails for everyone who follows
• A relentless desire to solve design problems; you are sociable and an information sharer
• Strong communication skills and empathy
• A willingness to take design direction when it is offered and collaborate with team members from different disciplines
• Excellent documentation skills and a desire to formalize and future-proof design processes
• Programming acumen: one of C/C++/C#/Java/Python to a reasonable knowledge required - Technical Degree (CS, IT, SE, CE, or equivalent work experience) is a plus

For Senior-level candidates: 

• Demonstrated leadership experience, such as unifying teams, mentoring, and promoting best practices
• Experience delegating ownership of work when necessary
• Ability to work on problems of diverse scope where analysis of situations requires evaluation
• Ability to own large-scale systems and improve workflows and discipline craft

NICE-TO-HAVE SKILLS

• Experience in a non-design development role (artist, animator, audio, engineer, etc.)
• Familiarity with 3D creation tools (Max, Maya)
• Experience managing/leading a team of designers
• Experience working on games as a service