Remote Anywhere, available during PST hours
Job Summary:
We are seeking a creative and experienced Senior Game Designer to join our team and help shape a top-tier third-person action RPG experience featuring a high-profile IP. This full-time, remote position offers an opportunity to join the Champion Design team, creating memorable, authentic, and mechanically distinct playable Champions that capture the fantasy of iconic characters while delivering engaging moment-to-moment gameplay. You will collaborate closely with animators, artists, engineers, VFX artists, and fellow designers to bring Champions from concept to fully realized, playable characters.
Character and Ability Design
- Design, prototype, and tune unique Champion kits that capture the fantasy of iconic characters.
- Create engaging Champion abilities while balancing damage, cooldowns, and combat pacing to deliver satisfying moment-to-moment gameplay.
- Design Champion gameplay loops that are distinct, intuitive, and fun to master.
Champion Progression & Balance
- Design Champion progression through skill trees, upgrades, and progression systems.
- Collaborate with combat, progression, and systems designers to ensure Champions integrate cleanly with the game's combat, progression, and team-building systems.
- Iterate on Champion gameplay using playtest feedback and data.
Champion Feel & Presentation
- Partner with Animation, VFX, Audio, and Engineering to deliver responsive, impactful abilities.
- Ensure Champion gameplay authentically represents each character's personality, combat style, and fantasy.
- Review implementation quality and provide feedback to maintain a high gameplay polish bar.
Cross-Discipline Collaboration
- Collaborate closely with Engineering, Animation, VFX, Audio, Art, Narrative, and Production throughout development.
- Create and maintain Champion design documentation.
- Own Champion designs from concept through implementation, iterating based on playtests and cross-disciplinary feedback.
Requirements:
- 5+ years of experience in combat design, character design, or gameplay design roles in the game industry.
- Passion for designing memorable playable characters and creating responsive, satisfying, and balanced combat experiences.
- Strong documentation skills with the ability to produce both detailed design specifications and executive-friendly summaries.
- Excellent problem-solving skills with a deep understanding of third-person combat design, character progression, game feel, and player engagement.
- Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across design, animation, art, VFX, audio, engineering, and production teams.
Nice-to-Have Qualifications:
- Experience designing third-person action combat for action RPGs, character-action games, or hero shooters.
- Proficiency in Unity and experience working with gameplay scripting tools.
- Familiarity with combat animation workflows and gameplay implementation.
- Understanding of character progression, balance, and long-term progression systems.
- Experience collaborating with licensors or working on established IPs.
- Strong documentation skills and familiarity with common game development tools such as Jira, Confluence, Miro, Git, and Perforce.
Compensation and Benefits:
Salary range: $100,000 - 140,000 USD
- Unlimited PTO (used responsibly and subject to business needs)
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) with company match
- Fully remote work
Smile Break is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, or any other legally protected characteristic.
Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country in which they reside. Visa sponsorship is not currently available for this position.
