Head of UI​/UX

Overview

Join Creative Assembly and craft deep and detailed games that are entertaining to millions of players around the world. As the Head of UI/UX Department, you will build and lead a department that balances in‑house expertise with external partnerships, developer collaboration, and a data‑driven approach to player‑centric design.

• Lead the recruitment, training, and mentoring of top UI/UX talent, fostering a culture of excellence.
• Craft the vision and strategy for UI/UX across the franchise in alignment with franchise and project goals.
• Work with Production to establish budgets, timelines, and staffing needs.
• Own the long‑term UI/UX backlog as part of the wider Gameplay Platform initiative.
• Establish and maintain quality standards, best practices, design systems, documentation, and guidelines.
• Use player feedback and research to inform UI/UX decisions.
• Keep the department ahead of industry trends, emerging technologies, and interaction models.
• Drive innovation in control schemes, accessibility, onboarding, and player journey design.
• Serve as the primary liaison for UX Testing & Research, validating player interactions.
• Collaborate with Project Leadership, UXR, and audience research for play testing, A/B testing, eye‑tracking, and user research.
• Translate player insights into actionable design improvements.
• Maintain player personas and behavioural models to inform game design.
• Identify risks, opportunities, and new initiatives; plan mitigation and escalate as needed.
• Represent and communicate the department’s vision, strategy, and status to stakeholders.
• Support the franchise and project delivery with a data‑informed and people‑led mindset.
• Build and maintain the resourcing strategy and communicate it clearly to stakeholders.
• Lead and mentor the UI/UX team, fostering individual and collective growth.
• Define guidelines, standards, workflows, processes, and documentation across the department.
• Align the department’s vision and roadmap with the strategic roadmap of the organization.
• Plan future strategic work and ensure project delivery.
• Act as a tiebreaker between Projects and the franchise for department‑related decisions.
• Review UI/UX concepts, provide strategic direction and hands‑on feedback.
• Stay involved in high‑level problem‑solving to align solutions with player expectations.
• Plan and oversee UX research and playtests, analysing data for usability improvements.
• Engage external vendors and outsourcing partners, ensuring quality and integration of external work.
• Advocate for product‑ and player‑centric design in franchise‑wide discussions.
• Monitor UI/UX trends and best practices to keep the team at the forefront of industry standards.

• Strong leadership skills with a track record of mentoring and managing UI/UX teams.
• Proven experience building and leading a UI/UX department, including structure, hiring, and best‑practice implementation.
• Ability to balance creative vision, business and technical constraints with player value and best practices.
• Expertise in UI/UX for games: interaction design, accessibility, information architecture, usability heuristics, and technical requirements.
• In‑depth knowledge of game control schemes, onboarding, and player psychology.
• Experience in outsourcing and vendor management.
• Methodological and data‑informed approach.
• Experience with Scrum and Agile project‑management methodologies.
• Knowledge of project‑management software and tools.
• Excellent organisational, management, and problem‑solving skills.
• Strong diplomatic skills and ability to unite stakeholders with varied priorities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Familiarity with in‑house engines (Unreal UMG, Unity UI) and iterative development workflows.

• Experience in AAA or high‑profile game development with a major UI/UX leadership role across multiple platforms.
• Strong visual design sensibility and ability to work with artists and engineers on high‑quality UI aesthetics.
• Familiarity with motion design and UI animation principles.
• Proficiency in UI/UX tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, Axure.
• Passion for game accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG, Xbox Accessibility Guidelines).
• Experi…