Game Director - Hearthstone | Irvine, CA

Game Director - Hearthstone | Irvine, CA

Blizzard is looking for a Game Director to join the Hearthstone leadership team. Hearthstone continues to reach millions of players worldwide and has delivered as one of Blizzard’s flagship live-service titles for 12 years. In this role, you will work with a veteran leadership team that is united by a passion for card games and player‑first development, shaping the future of competitive play, social experiences, live operations, and new ways for players to engage.

This added leadership role will own the game’s near‑term creative, gameplay, and live‑service direction while partnering closely with Hearthstone’s senior game director and senior leadership on the long‑term strategy. You will set the creative and strategic direction for a game that has delighted players for over a decade, ensuring it continues to surprise, entertain, and evolve for many years to come.

The hybrid work week is flexible, with a mix of remote and on‑site days. The home studio for this role is in Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the vision and direction for the live game, including delivering best‑in‑class gameplay, supporting a healthy metagame, and driving ongoing improvements to the player experience.
• Provide strategic leadership across Hearthstone’s major game experiences, aligning creative, player, and business goals while establishing priorities across content, systems, and live‑service initiatives.
• Champion quality in the delivery of fun and engaging card sets, providing actionable feedback and roadblock removal necessary for the design team to deliver on quality targets and business objectives.
• Partner closely with product management, user research, telemetry & data science, marketing, and other key stakeholders to translate player insights, business objectives, and market opportunities into actionable game direction and priorities.
• Drive cross‑disciplinary working groups with clear goals, holding implementation of content releases and sophisticated systems accountable to a core vision and quality bar with kindness and candor.
• Represent Hearthstone’s creative vision with senior Blizzard leadership, communicating strategic plans, performance insights, risks, and opportunities while helping drive alignment across the broader organization.
• Develop an understanding of the game’s community to identify common points of friction and opportunities to deliver improvements to the overall player experience.
• Monitor the state of the game through player feedback, community sentiment, user research, telemetry, and business performance data to inform strategic direction and prioritization.
• Establish and maintain a creative environment, fostering a culture of experimentation, accountability, and success.
• Cultivate the skills of those working with you, constantly finding opportunities to help them improve their craft.

Minimum Requirements

• 12+ years of professional game design experience, with at least 4 years in a senior leadership, director‑level, or comparable role within the gaming industry.
• Professional genre‑relevant experience with competitive PvP strategy games and large‑scale live‑service titles.
• Demonstrated success leading a live‑service game with recurring content releases, player feedback loops, data‑informed iteration, and long‑term player engagement goals.
• Proven ability to lead, grow, and inspire design teams, championing design craft while collaborating effectively with cross‑functional teams.
• Deep understanding of “games as a service” and the live‑service loop, especially through the lens of free‑to‑play games.
• Exceptional ability to influence and align diverse stakeholder groups, including executive leadership, product, publishing, marketing, user research, and analytics teams.
• Strong project management skills and ability to maintain a strategic vision.
• Being an advocate for simple, intuitive, and future‑proof design, confident in speaking up or giving voice to dissenting opinions with clarity and respect.
• Commitment to creating a safe space for collaboration, communication, and creativity across all subject areas and departments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion for and…