Lead Open World Designer

About the role

As the Lead Open World Designer, you will be the primary vision holder for the open world, its systems, and content. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team to deliver a best-in-class open-world experience rich with characters, encounters, side missions, puzzles, secrets, discoverables, collectables, and more.

Responsibilities

• Drive the design and implementation of engaging, immersive, interactive open-world content that encourages exploration and emphasizes a mix of fun, varied gameplay, worldbuilding, and storytelling.
• Work closely with the narrative team to develop ideas for new content.
• Develop and execute the design vision and strategy, ensuring that open-world content aligns with the game's overall narrative, thematic, and player experience goals.
• Leverage the game's core systems and mechanics to create dynamic and unpredictable open-world experiences that adapt to player choices and actions.
• Continuously seek opportunities to innovate, challenge conventions, and push the boundaries of open-world design.
• Rally designers, engineers, animators, artists, and external co-dev partners to deliver playable progress at regular intervals as part of a rapid iterative process.
• Incorporate feedback from peers, playtests, and senior leadership to refine and pivot as the game demands.
• Go beyond documentation and management to lead from the trenches, with hands-on contributions to the playable experience.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and iteration.

Requirements

• 5 or more years of experience in open-world design.
• Prior experience as a Lead Designer.
• Knack and passion for blurring the lines between AI, systems, mechanics, and scripted content to create deep, layered worlds in which stories can unfold organically through exploration and gameplay.
• Strong understanding of population and encounter design and open-world content balancing.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills.
• Innovative thinker with creative problem-solving skills who thrives in a collaborative team environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience in UE4 or UE5.
• Experience working with co-development partners.

Location

This is an on-site role in Santa Monica, CA. The office is located near downtown Santa Monica—close to metro and freeways.

Pay

The base pay range for this position is $150,000 to $175,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Benefits

We offer a competitive package of benefits including:

• Vacation time
• Sick time
• Company holidays
• Parental leave
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• 401(k) matching

Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.