Level​/Game Designer - Senior

Level Designer - Principal

As part of Keywords Studios, we are gifted with the opportunity to partner with a variety of studios across the globe on all types of games and genres. If the idea of bringing your skills to bear upon an ever-changing landscape of games in collaboration with teams all over the world sounds exciting to you...well, continue reading my friend.

• Act as a primary design point of contact for external partner studios, driving collaborative efforts and ensuring alignment of vision and execution across distributed teams
• Drive the conceptualization, documentation, and macro-level vision of levels, spaces, missions, and gameplay experiences
• Drive the development and iteration of pipelines, processes, and tools to elevate the efficiency and quality of the entire design team
• Drive cross-functional strike teams to achieve end-user experience goals, proactively identifying and resolving project-wide blockers
• Lead by example in grey-boxing, pacing, layout beats, scripting, encounters, and gameplay implementation, setting the gold standard for the studio
• Spearhead testing, debugging, level performance, streaming, and optimization strategies
• Drive the vision for environmental storytelling, world building, tone, setting, and art propping
• Act as a champion for the discipline, actively accountable for driving results and owning specific project mandates
• Be a foundational source of knowledge, providing high-level mentorship to Associate and Core designers to foster a culture of excellence

• 8+ years of professional game development experience, demonstrating a consistent track record of driving results, iterating on process, and owning major game features and experiences
• Experience working on at least 3 shipped titles, with a proven ability in driving macro-level vision, establishing pipelines, and guiding cross-functional teams from concept to final release
• Exceptional ability to tackle highly complex, cross-discipline problems where no established pipeline exists, turning ambiguity into actionable strategies
• Mastery of virtual spaces, pacing, flow, immersion, player motivation, and aesthetics
• Proven leadership in collaborating across disciplines in both internal and external teams
• Excellent active communication skills, capable of pitching, defending, and driving consensus on high-level design decisions
• Expert understanding of technical concepts, logic, logic flow, and systemic game design
• Expert mastery of Unreal Engine and its development environment, with a track record of pushing the engine's capabilities

• AAA experience.
• While Unreal is our primary focus, experience with Unity or proprietary custom engines is a strong plus.
• Experience developing on console.
• At least one shipped title.

Job Details

• Reports to:
  
  Director of Design
• Department:
  Design
• Work Location:
  
  Fully Remote
• Employment status:
  Full Time
• FLSA:
  Salaried, Exempt
• Benefits:
  Generous PTO, Health, Dental, & Vision coverage;
  Healthcare and Daycare FSAs, 401k with company match;
  Life and Disability insurance, Technology Stipend, Paid Sick leave, commuter benefits, paid company holidays and office closures

This position is currently open to candidates residing in the following U.S. states only:

• Arizona (AZ), Connecticut (CT), Florida (FL), Iowa (IA), Illinois (IL), Massachusetts (MA), Maine (ME), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), New Hampshire (NH), Nevada (NV), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Virginia (VA), Wisconsin (WI), Montana (MT), Alabama (AL), Georgia (GA), Indiana (IN), Louisiana (LA), North Carolina (NC), New Jersey (NJ), Oklahoma (OK), Washington (WA) and Utah (UT).

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States and reside in one of the eligible states listed above.

Salary Range: $80,000 to $120,000 USD

Primary working language:
English

About Hardsuit Labs

We are an independent game developer founded in 2015 in Seattle, Washington. We believe that great games can only be built with great people and that great people thrive and do their best work in a healthy, collaborative, and positive work environment that values them. We believe in a diverse and…