Destiny Combat Area Lead

Do you enjoy tight, intrinsically fun moment to moment action gameplay? Do you replay missions and fight through amazing environments just for the fun of it? Do you find yourself daydreaming of the dozens of ways you can overcome the hardest combat puzzles in Destiny? Do you think of ways to solve problems systemically to make as broad of an impact as possible?

Bungie Studios is looking for an experienced and passionate design lead with a strong eye towards the intrinsic fun of FPS action combat in Destiny worlds to lead multidisciplinary teams working on the content, systems, and tools that make our action combat and activity content first-class.

As the Combat Area Lead, you will work closely with the Core Game Creative Director and lead teams of designers, artists, engineers, and testers responsible for crafting, maintaining, and upgrading the first-class action game that makes up Destiny’s core gameplay. At the same time, you will be leading teams looking for opportunities to upgrade existing systems and further delight players with new ways to play and express themselves in Destiny. You will ensure that your area collaborates well with peers and other teams to improve the combat and sandbox throughout the game. You will mentor and guide your area to ensure their work creates amazing player experiences and advances their craft. 

All positions at Bungie are subject to onboarding and working virtually/remotely.

RESPONSIBILITIES

You are the leader of multiple interdisciplinary teams who create a compelling action game ecosystem in Destiny. You will be accountable for: 

• Coordinating communication between the small teams responsible for Destiny’s combat systems and the rest of the organization
• Setting high-level design direction for these teams and proposing upgrades to existing content and systems
• Translating direction from game directors into actionable goals for the Combat area to implement
• Evaluating and committing to features or updates proposed by the teams
• Providing ongoing feedback and support to the work being done by Gameplay, Sandbox Systems & Workflow, Combatants, AI Systems, and Bosses
• Communicating the progress and relative importance of these features upward to game directors
• Evaluating and committing to live-game updates to combat balance and tuning

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Experience successfully leading multiple interdisciplinary teams through several game development cycles
• Experience hiring, training, mentoring, and managing peer and junior designers
• Passion for interdisciplinary collaboration and effective compromise 
• Proven ability to interpret and achieve high-level experience goals set by game directors
• Outstanding ability to balance asks for short-term problems alongside long-term goals
• Commitment to creating a positive work environment
• Self-motivated with an ability to inspire and motivate your team
• Extensive knowledge of player character systems, AI combat systems, and encounter design for first person shooter games
• In-depth understanding of game engines, technology, and the game development process
• Experience with many types of action games (FPS, 3rd person, melee combat, ARPG, etc.) and online play (cooperative, competitive, shooter, MMO, etc.)
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills
• Excellent math skills, great game feel sense, strong systems design rigor, and a sense for quality mission pacing
• Passion for the Destiny action game and a broad understanding of all of Destiny’s different combat experiences

NICE-TO-SKILLS

• People management experience
• Discipline-leadership experience 
• Experience developing live-service games