Design Director, Head of Adventure

Description
Scopely, Inc seeks a top-performing Director level Game Designer to join a team that is at the beginning of a journey to bring one of the best-loved intellectual properties of all time to a worldwide mobile & PC audience in our Culver City hub, or remotely within the US!!
At Scopely, we care deeply about what we do and want to inspire play every day - whether in our work environments alongside our talented colleagues or through our deep connections with our communities of players. We are a global team of game lovers who are developing, publishing and innovating the mobile games industry, connecting millions of people around the world daily.
As Head of Adventure, you will be responsible for the design efforts of the Player Adventure aspects of the game, from early concept brainstorming through to final implementation. You will be hands-on from day one, and will grow your team over time to serve the needs of the project.
What you will do:

• Own the Adventure experience for the player and bring it to a level that sets a new standard of quality.
• Ensure that the integration of key Adventure elements (Quests, Encounter Design, NPCs, Combat Systems, Difficulty curve, Worldbuilding, Narrative, etc) adds up to a world-class player experience.
• Work from end-to-end in an iterative process, starting at the earliest feature concepts and moving through to directing designers in final implementation and iteration.
• Bring a sense of curiosity, humor, and delight into Adventuring through the game world.
• Follow a design thinking methodology to understand player needs, ideate, and propose design solutions that effectively meet player and business goals.
• Understand our audience at a deep, empathetic level, and formulate solutions that respond to the needs of various player segments.
• Closely partner with Creative Director, UX Director, Director of Product and Technical Director to ensure the Adventure design effort results in smooth and successful implementation.
• Envision and direct designs for content creation that establish the ability to sustain a large live-operated adventure game, ensuring scalability for both content quality and pipeline.
• Understand game engine and performance boundaries, and propose creative solutions that work within them.
• Partner with Art, UX and engineering to create prototypes that explore specific interactions and behaviors, to help iterate on features early and articulate the desired feel and functionality.
• Manage the design of multiple features at once, ideating on new features while simultaneously overseeing development for others.
• Ensure a culture of top-quality specification for all relevant design documentation.
• Inspire, empower and grow a team of game designers to produce the best possible quality of Adventure gameplay

What you will need:

• 5+ years of game design leadership on a major multiplayer Adventure game, action RPG, or MMORPG
• 5+ years of experience in Quest or Encounter design leadership
• Minimum 10 years working on shipped new or live game products
• 3+ years working in Free to Play
• Experience iterating on ideas in the early phases of development, in a tightly collaborative environment, as well as working on production or live-operated games
• Demonstrated ability to define and ensure standards of excellence in design documentation

• Bonus: Experience working on major IP, navigating the competing pressures of player expectations and the need to innovate
• Bonus: Experience on cross-platform products, and console / PC games
• Bonus: Experience working directly in Unity

For candidates in CA, CO, NJ, NY and WA, the annual salary range is $186,300 - 244,000 plus equity, bonus and benefits including healthcare benefits, retirement benefits, pet insurance, paid holidays, paid Scopely free days, and unlimited paid time-off. Base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
At Scopely, we create games for everyone - and want to ensure that the people behind our games reflect that! We are committed to creating a diverse, supportive work environment where everyone is treated with respect. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities and welcome individuals from all backgrounds to join us & embrace the adventure!
About Us
Scopely is a global interactive entertainment and mobile-first video game company, home to many top, award-winning experiences such as "MONOPOLY GO!," "Star Trek™ Fleet Command," "Stumble Guys," "MARVEL Strike Force," and "Yahtzee® With Buddies," among others.
Scopely creates, publishes, and live-operates immersive games that empower a directed-by-consumer™ experience across multiple platforms--from mobile, web, PC and beyond.
Founded in 2011, Scopely is fueled by a world-class team and a proprietary technology platform Playgami that supports one of the most diversified portfolios in the games industry.
Recognized multiple times as one of Fast Company's "World's Most Innovative Companies," Scopely is a multi-billion-dollar business due to its ability to create long-lasting game experiences that players enjoy for years.
Scopely has global operations in more than a dozen markets across Asia, EMEA, and North America, and is home to many internal game development teams, referred to as Scopely Studios, with additional game studio partners across four continents.
Scopely was acquired by Savvy Games Group in July 2023 for $4.9 billion, and is now an independent subsidiary of Savvy. For more information on Scopely, visit: scopely.com.
Notice to candidates: Scopely, Inc and its affiliates will never request payment or ask for financial information as a condition for applying to a position or receiving an offer of employment.All official Scopely, Inc. recruiters only use email domains that end with @scopely.com.
Our official website is Please only apply to positions posted on our official website and ensure the recruiter only communicates via the official email domain.
Should you have any questions or encounter any fraudulent requests/emails/websites, please immediately contact (email protected).