Interim Design Manager

9 Minutes ago • All levels

Design

Job Description

As the Interim Design Manager, you will lead the game development team, working closely with the Studio Manager and Designers. Your role involves overseeing the Design Team, ensuring their optimal performance, and fostering strong collaboration. You will represent the Design discipline in Direction meetings, communicate studio direction, and mentor game designers to enhance their creativity and effectiveness. This is a high-level senior opportunity to support innovative, high-quality gaming experiences globally, covering a maternity leave period.

Must Have:

Lead and represent the design team within the studio’s leadership group.
Oversee the Design Team and foster a safe, creative, and collaborative team culture.
Mentor and guide game designers, helping them grow more creative and effective.
Conduct regular 1:1s, set clear expectations, and provide constructive feedback and coaching.
Evaluate designers’ performance, align with studio expectations, and address underperformance.
Embrace scrum team-based project leading and ensure consistent design practices and workflows.
Assess team capacity and partner with HR/recruiting to hire and onboard new designers.
Build succession plans and identify potential future leaders within the team.

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team-management

game-texts

Job Description

As the Interim Design Manager, you will play a vital role in leading our game development team, working closely with the Studio Manager and Designers. Your responsibilities will include overseeing the Design Team, ensuring they have everything they need to perform at their best, and fostering strong collaboration. You will represent the Design discipline in Direction meetings to ensure the designers’ voices are heard, while also communicating the studio’s overall direction back to the team.

This role serves as a mentor and guide for game designers, helping them grow more creative and effective in their work, but does not involve holding or leading the creative vision for our games.

This is an incredible high-level senior opportunity to join a growing local studio and support an innovative, high-quality gaming experience for millions of players and engaged fans around the world.

Please note: This is a temporary role to cover the current Design Directors maternity leave.

Responsibilities in the role:

Team Leadership & Culture

Lead and represent the design team within the studio’s leadership group.
Ensure designers’ voices are heard and considered in decision-making.
Foster a safe, creative, and collaborative team culture.

People Management & Development

Conduct regular 1:1s with designers to check in on well-being, workload, and growth.
Set clear expectations, responsibilities, and goals for each team member.
Provide constructive feedback and coaching to support professional development.
Identify training opportunities, workshops, or mentoring to upskill the team.

Performance & Evaluation

Evaluate designers’ performance fairly and transparently.
Align evaluations with studio expectations, values, and project needs.
Address underperformance with support plans, while recognizing and rewarding excellence.

Process & Collaboration

Embrace scrum team-based project leading, where each designer is part of their own team/pod and fosters collaboration with other disciplines (art, tech, etc.)
Ensure consistent design practices, documentation standards, and workflows.