Design Director

Smoking Gun Interactive, a Keywords Studio, is an industry-leading game development studio founded in 2007 by award-winning industry veterans. SGI is fearless in creating IP and boldly partners with renowned brands to develop a wide range of world-class, immersive titles and interactive experiences that resonate with strategy gamers worldwide and entertain millions of casual players every day.

Job Purpose

As a Design Director with Smoking Gun Interactive (SGI), you’re a talented and passionate natural leader with at least five years of industry experience in game design leadership. You have a strong understanding of game mechanics and design philosophies to communicate a clear vision for the project. You will provide mentorship and support to the Lead Designers to ensure a positive culture among the design team and project. You are a flexible and collaborative individual who is excited about motivating a multi-disciplinary team to achieve excellent results.

Requirements

In this role, you will:

• Collaborate with the Creative Director to deliver and drive a cohesive vision for the projects.
• Work with production to ensure the vision is achievable within the project constraints.
• Be a key champion of the game vision to the team/s and clients.
• Build strong creative game designs that are original and imaginative.
• Work with Creative Director and other Leads on product pitches.
• Mentor and support to Lead Designers and design team members in developing designs, tuning features to create engaging player experiences.
• Work with lead designers to help delegate tasks among the design teams and give feedback for improvement to align with high quality of work being delivered.
• Act as a regular liaison and provide guidance to other discipline teams to ensure the game features being developed will bring the project vision to life.
• Oversee or own the analysis of game KPI's, user testing, and market trends.
• Be a main conduit of design discussions between the clients and SGI.
• Mentor the design team and help manage conflicts that arise to promote a positive working culture.
• Be able and willing to lead the design of a game team for any product.

To be successful in this role, you must have:

• 5+ years experience in a Design Leadership role on mobile, PC or console products.
• Shipped at least three titles in a Design Leadership role.
• Taken games all the way from initial concept to live operations.
• Experience with both Premium and Freemium game mechanics, KPI’s, and monetization strategies.
• Proven track record of bringing out the true potential of their design team.
• Experience in live tuning, scripting and tools of multiple game engines.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to communicate ideas clearly.
• Strong critical thinking and problem solving skills.
• Ability to accept and provide direction, work well under pressure, and handle multiple tasks.
• A naturally self-driven demeanor, taking initiative when needed – demonstrated ability to work independently.
• Willingness to push the envelope and innovate within game parameters.
• Experience with Word, Excel, Photoshop.
• A positive attitude and a great team-player.

It would also be helpful if you had:

• Direct experience creating, and tuning strategy titles.
• Multi-platform development experience (ideally, with various mobile platforms).
• A bachelor’s degree.

Benefits

• 10 days vacation leave
• 5 paid days personal leave
• 7 paid sick days
• Life Insurance & Accidental Death & Dismemberment
• Dependent Life Insurance
• Long Term Disability (LTD)
• Extended Healthcare Benefit
• Dental Care
• Hybrid working
• Training & Development

Salary Range: $120,000 CAD - $150,000 CAD