Senior Boss Designer II - Unannounced Project | Irvine, CA

Your Mission
At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations. We are looking for a Senior Boss Designer II to help craft a new, unannounced game. This role offers a hybrid work week, with a mix of work-from-home and onsite days, based out of our Irvine, CA location.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and iterate on boss encounters from concept through final polish.
• Create compelling gameplay mechanics, combat scenarios, and encounter scripts that support narrative and gameplay goals.
• Collaborate with design directors, engineers, artists, animators, audio designers, and others to deliver high-quality boss experiences.
• Develop boss behaviors, attack patterns, and combat pacing to create challenging and satisfying gameplay.
• Balance encounters using playtest feedback, analytics, and qualitative observations.
• Document encounter designs, implementation requirements, and player experience goals.
• Prototype encounter mechanics that elevate and expand normal gameplay.
• Mentor other designers through thoughtful feedback, knowledge sharing, and collaborative problem solving.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to identify risks and propose solutions that improve gameplay quality and development efficiency.

Requirements

• 12+ years of professional game design experience, having shipped one or more AAA games with significant encounter or combat design responsibilities.
• Experience designing and implementing complex combat-focused gameplay systems and encounters from initial concept through prototyping and production, to final polish.
• Proven experience owning complex combat content, showing ability to work with a high degree of independence in alignment with project vision.
• Experience collaborating closely with engineering, art, animation, audio, and production partners on cross-disciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated ability to inspire colleagues through an enthusiastic approach to game development and a commitment to continuous improvement of core skills.

Skills

• Ability to take initiative and manage responsibilities independently, demonstrating strong ownership and accountability.
• Comprehensive understanding of encounter design, gameplay readability, difficulty balancing, and player experience.
• Experience creating boss battles and memorable gameplay moments.
• Strong understanding of gameplay scripting tools and implementation workflows.
• Experience balancing gameplay systems through testing, iteration, and player feedback.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to articulate design goals to diverse audiences.
• Experience working within modern game engines such as Unreal or equivalent.

Key Attributes

• A team-oriented approach to game development.
• A player-first mindset focused on delivering highly engaging gameplay experiences.
• A proactive approach to problem solving and continuous improvement.
• The ability to operate independently while collaborating effectively across disciplines.
• A passion for creating memorable gameplay experiences that resonate with players.
• A commitment to providing constructive feedback and fostering positive creative partnerships.

Extra Points

• Experience designing and implementing epic boss battles.
• Experience developing in Unreal engine on one or more AAA games.
• Experience designing and developing behaviors, perception, and combat abilities for enemy NPCs.
• Experience working on action games, shooter games, or combat-heavy 3rd person experiences.
• Experience mentoring junior or mid-level designers.
• Experience collaborating with external partners or vendors.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts.
• Life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance.
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching.
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave.
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games.
• A variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others.
• Relocation assistance if required to move geographic locations for the job.

Pay

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $99,200.00 - $183,520.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation.