Lead Gameplay Designer

Please note:

We welcome applicants who prefer to work from home; however, we cannot offer visa sponsorship for this opportunity at this time.

Role
-R205

We’re looking for a Lead Melee Combat Designer to own and develop a fluid, impactful melee combat experience inspired by Shadow of Mordor and God of War.

You’ll take combat from initial concepts through prototyping, production and final polish, shaping both the player’s abilities and the enemies they face. Working primarily in Unreal Engine, you’ll combine creative ideas with a strong sense of timing, flow and game feel to make combat intuitive, varied and rewarding in both solo and co-op play.

This is a hands‑on leadership role. You’ll initially lead by example through the prototype phase, with the potential to build and manage a design team as development grows.

• Own the combat design from paper concepts to final implementation, setting a clear direction in collaboration with the Game Director.
• Build, test, and refine combat directly in Unreal Engine, working closely with the Senior Technical Animator and programmers.
• Design player movesets, abilities, enemy behaviours, bosses and combat encounters that create depth, variety and meaningful choices.
• Tune attacks, combos, defensive actions, hit reactions and targeting, with close attention to responsiveness, timing, spacing and flow.
• Shape animation timing, transitions and gameplay integration alongside the Senior Technical Animator.
• Balance combat for solo and co-op play, keeping different player counts, complementary abilities and enemy interactions in mind.
• Keep combat engaging throughout the game through new enemies, abilities, encounters and evolving tactical challenges.
• Explore new ideas through focused prototypes, play testing and iteration.
• Communicate designs clearly, maintain practical documentation and take responsibility for delivering polished results.
• Help establish the combat design team as the project grows, potentially taking on recruitment, mentoring and line management.
• 7+ years of professional experience designing melee combat, including ownership of combat systems on at least one shipped title.
• Expert practical knowledge of Unreal Engine, with strong Blueprint skills and the ability to independently build, debug and tune character combat.
• A strong working understanding of Unreal’s animation systems, including Animation Blueprints, state machines, blend spaces, montages, animation notifies, root motion, motion matching, motion warping, IK and Control Rig.
• Confidence adjusting animation implementation and timing to improve combat feel, in close collaboration with animation specialists.
• A strong understanding of player combat, enemy design and encounter balance, with a clear feel for anticipation, impact, recovery and combat rhythm.
• Experience designing and balancing multiplayer combat, with an understanding of the challenges of co-op play.
• The ability to create combat variety and sustain player interest across a full game.
• A creative, experimental approach, supported by sound judgement and a willingness to test, adapt or discard ideas.
• Demonstrated ability to lead from the front, take ownership and move work forward independently.
• Clear communication skills and a collaborative approach to working across disciplines.
• Experience with Unreal’s Gameplay Ability System and networked gameplay systems.
• Experience shipping a game with both solo and co-op combat.
• Experience growing, mentoring or managing a design team.
• Familiarity with animation production and motion capture workflows.
• C++ experience, particularly within Unreal Engine.

Based just outside Birmingham, Flix is made up of welcoming, passionate,…