Senior Systems Designer (12-month contract)

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.
Our studio operates as a remote-first workplace, offering flexible work arrangements.
PLEASE NOTE: At this time, we are only able to hire candidates who are legally eligible to work in Canada and reside within Canada.

Blackbird Interactive is looking for a Senior Systems Designer to join on a sci-fi, first-person action game built in Unreal 5. The game is heavily systems-driven, and uses a blend of hand-authored and procedural content, with deep immersion, emergent gameplay, and an emphasis on narrative.

As a Senior Systems Designer, you are responsible for the design, tuning and maintenance of many important, complex systems, from core gameplay to economy and progression systems, with the goal of delivering a more dynamic player experience. You are a key bridge between Design and the Art and Code disciplines. You are also responsible for designing both features and dev-facing tools for use in Unreal. You care about shaping an engaging player experience and bringing together a blend of creative and technical skills and experience.

Responsibilities

-
Design, prototype and implement complex gameplay systems and tools, in collaboration with the other Designers, Artists and Programmers

-
Provide team-facing documentation to inform and guide the work of downstream groups

-
Provide creative and technical feedback on the work of other Designers

-
Understand, interpret and execute on creative direction, in alignment with project goals

-
Act as a technical expert on key features and participate in data debugging

-
Guide the technical work of others and ensure that content creation follows documented best practices

-
Help test new tools / features before distribution to the rest of the team

-
Participate in planning a roadmap to completion for the systems for which you’re responsible

-
Mentor designers and promote good design principles across the team

Requirements

-
Minimum 6 years in technical design or systems design

-
Demonstrate fundamental knowledge of game design processes and skills investigating in-game issues

- At least two shipped titles

- Experience with Unreal 5 and Blueprints

-
Self-direction and a proven ability to thrive in a highly technical environment

Pluses

-
Experience with other areas of design (level design, UX/UI, encounter scripting, etc.)

-
Experience playing modern first person games, including genres like Immersive Sim or Action-RPG

-
Experience or knowledge of 2D / 3D software

-
Experience with a variety of game engines

- Experience with version control software

Originally posted on Himalayas