Game Director, Founders School - $400,000​/year USD

Founders School is launching a new high school in New York City built on an audacious guarantee: students will earn $1 million in profit before they graduate, or their tuition will be refunded. Yet our ambitions reach well beyond a single school. We are creating the first business simulation game in which every significant advancement comes from mastering authentic entrepreneurial capabilities—pricing, marketing, hiring, and operations.

This is the founding leadership position that will bring that vision to life. You will control the game's creative direction, product strategy, and development organization while collaborating directly with Founders School's executive team. Your role is to evaluate the concept we have built, determine where it falls short, and help craft a superior vision before assembling and leading the team that executes it.

The opportunity is unlike any other in gaming or education. You must design a simulation that players genuinely choose to engage with for ten consecutive hours while demonstrably improving their ability to operate a real company. Most games achieve entertainment. Most educational platforms fail to sustain engagement. We are convinced both outcomes are achievable, and we are searching for the individual who can deliver the proof.

You will also help establish how contemporary games are developed. AI should be integrated into every phase of your creative workflow—from design exploration and systems balancing to prototyping, asset generation, playtest evaluation, and production management.

If you have always aspired to build the game that defines your legacy, this is that moment. If that resonates with you, we want to connect.

• Establish and control the creative vision, gameplay architecture, and product roadmap for a business simulation game that imparts genuine entrepreneurial competencies through captivating gameplay.
• Assemble and manage a senior game development organization, recruiting outstanding talent and fostering a culture oriented toward rapid iteration and continuous refinement.
• Collaborate with Founders School leadership, educators, and business practitioners to convert real-world commercial principles into engaging gameplay systems.
• Integrate AI across the entire development process to expedite design, balancing, prototyping, content generation, and production operations.
• Achieve concrete milestones, including a playable vertical slice within 12 months, validated teen playtests, and a scalable architecture for additional simulation experiences.

• Developing another conventional simulation game with recycled mechanics and negligible real-world relevance.
• Devoting months to documentation instead of delivering playable prototypes.
• Operating within a large studio environment where creative choices are hindered by bureaucratic approval chains.
• Regarding AI as a peripheral productivity enhancement rather than a fundamental element of your creative methodology.
• Producing educational software that players endure rather than experiences they authentically enjoy.

Direct the development of the world's most compelling business simulation game by recruiting the team, establishing the vision, and shipping a product that transforms players into better entrepreneurs through gameplay.

• Within 6 months, you have shipped a playable vertical slice in which players advance through authentic business competencies by completing substantive gameplay objectives.
• Initial playtests reveal that teenagers reliably characterize the game as enjoyable before realizing the depth of their learning.
• You have recruited and integrated the founding game development team, maintaining consistent, high-caliber releases.
• Within 12 months, you have deployed a closed beta exceeding 1,000 players, attained 40%+ 30-day retention, and implemented a development rhythm capable of delivering new simulation content sustainably.

• Track record shipping at least one commercially successful game that players authentically embraced, preferably within a team of 10 or fewer.
• Proven experience…