Principal Designer

Job Description

Your Platform

Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Melbourne, Australia, Toronto, Canada and Guildford, UK – Sledgehammer Games is the videogame development team behind Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty®: WWII, and Call of Duty®: Vanguard. Since our founding in 2009, our greatest passion has been making AAA games. The strength of our team makes us not only excellent at what we do, but also how we do it. We firmly believe in supporting our passionate employees to be the best they can be. Here at Sledgehammer Games, everyone is a game maker.

We are constantly evolving and innovating – which are some of the most rewarding aspects of game development. With our outstanding audio, design, engineering, and art teams, we've been able to achieve some of the highest-quality game execution of any studio in the industry. We love making games and we work hard to make sure that each new game we make is even better than the last. Creativity is key, and we're looking for dedicated game developers for our exciting upcoming projects.

Sledgehammer Games is wholly owned by Activision. To learn more about our studio, please visit us at www.sledgehammergames.com or search for Sledgehammer Games on your favorite social media platform. Want to hear what it's like at the studio directly from current employees? Check out our #LifeatSHG developer profiles: https://youtu.be/12DUBszg-w4

Your Mission

The Principal Designer will oversee mechanics development as they start to stitch combat, questing, and open world together. This position is as much about finding the fun as it is about making sure they're building mechanics that will work well together. In addition to overseeing and driving mechanics development, the Principal Designer is expected to contribute to the prototyping efforts to help them uncover the innovations for the game and prove them out. This role is anticipated to be assigned as a hybrid work model position, with some work on-site at an Activision Blizzard office and some work remote.

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:
• Plan, build, and revise interesting layouts for gameplay.
• Design and own systems/mechanics from concept to completion.
• Create and iterate on the second to second experiences.
• Implement gameplay using proprietary level editor and scripting language.
• Research the game's subject matter.
• Collaborate with the Design, Art, and Engineering teams to create and refine gameplay mechanics, combat encounters, and cinematic sequences.
• Prioritize well and meet deadlines, communicate progress with the Lead Level Designer well and frequently.

Player Profile

Minimum Requirements:
• 12+ years professional design experience.
• Demonstrable experience creating gameplay in a 3D environment.
• Strong creative and technical design skills.
• Experience building believable spaces that cater to gameplay and narrative needs
• Ability to conceptualize and communicate an engaging gameplay experience and the technical ability to carry out your vision.
• Experience in Radiant, UnrealEd, Hammer, or other first-person shooter level editors.
• Self-motivated with the highest level of attention to detail.
• Works well in a team environment.
• Strong communication skills.
• Takes and understands direction and feedback well, meets deadlines and handles multiple tasks.

Extra Points:
• Programming/scripting experience in C/C++, LUA, or other languages

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! At Activision Blizzard, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:
• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the US, the standard base pay range for this role is $134,000.00 - $247,900.00 Annual. This base pay range is for the US and is not applicable to locations outside of the US Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d5ob93-3-138-101-95-42 in your application.