Senior Systems Designer

The Senior Systems Designer collaborates with the Project Lead, design team and other team members to conceptualize, document and implement detailed game design throughout the project cycle.
* Collaborate with Design Lead and design team to develop core concepts, game systems, and game content.
* Contribute substantially and decisively to the evolution of the game design from initial documentation through testing.
* Conceptualize, create and maintain detailed game design documentation throughout the project cycle.
* Aggressively prototype and iterate on core game mechanics.
* Evolve ideas in conjunction with a team, explain those concepts in complete detail, and ensure that the design vision adapts to and survives the development process.
* Make and communicate practical design compromises to ensure that the project is viable and successful as a retail product.
* Assist in communicating the game design and vision to the team and company. Serve to galvanize team members around the design's core features and build excitement about the game throughout the organization.
* Develop and implement positive changes to the game based on feedback from QA, Consumer Insights, senior staff members, and others. Balance and adjust game-play experiences to ensure the product's critical and commercial success.
* Provide timely updates and documented closes to the bug database. Actively resolve priority bugs and implement tuning and polish.
* Exercise initiative and excellent judgment.
* Remain current on industry trends and techniques in game design.
* Identify any software or production problems. Promptly communicate them to appropriate resources and to the Design team.
* Assist design colleagues to bring the project in as planned.
* Participate pro-actively and collaboratively at gameplay and art reviews.
* Mentor design colleagues and level artists. Provide guidance, feedback, or instruction to those individuals that enhance their work product.
* Participate in discussions with the programming and tools teams to determine the project requirements for tools, plugins and scripts.
* Contribute to tool development. Participate in version updates; document better ways to create environments and expand tool usefulness.
* Demonstrate commitment to creative collaboration in a time-sensitive environment.

* Bachelor's degree in related field or equivalent training preferred.
* Three titles and/or six years professional experience building game content and/or systems. It is preferred that titles have shipped and be available for review.
* Passion for interactive computer/video games. Demonstrable success in creating compelling (fun, commercially viable, and critically-acclaimed) game-play, scenarios, activities, and encounters for multiple game genres.
* Excellent creativity and demonstrated ability to generate innovative concepts, mechanics, and ideas.
* Superior communication skills, including excellent writing ability.
* A thorough understanding of major elements of game design including, story, dialog, interface, character interaction, mission/environment design, look and feel, AI, combat, strategy game-flow, balance and difficulty.
* Specialized in: Game Systems (such as controls, AI, combat, navigation, or interface) and Balancing/Tuning (including combat tuning and attribute editing).
* Ability to productively discuss, make decisions, and communicate ideas in a wide variety of aesthetic areas (art, sound, voice, story, gameplay etc.).
* Related technical skills (some background in use of game editors, scripting/programming and/or 3D tools). Experience in scripting and/or programming (C++, Java, proprietary authoring tools, etc.) preferred.
* Recognized by leads and amongst peers as highly skilled and a top contributor.
* Superlative ability to execute, critique, assist in, and/or direct the layout of 3D environments (layout, modeling, placeholder textures and lighting, etc.).