Game Director (Open World)

TL;DR

Game Director (Open World): Shaping the gameplay vision for projects, translating creative direction into actionable systems for open-ended play, balancing with structure and pacing. Focus on the game design process from idea to implementation, collaborating with creative, tech, art, and production leads to align design with project scope and technical realities.

Location: Hybrid (within The Netherlands) or fully remote within Europe.

Salary: Enjoy a 13th month of salary at the end of the year, learning & development budget Spend up to €1,500 per year.

Company

hirify.global is an independent development studio based in Amsterdam, focused on creating massive sandbox worlds.

What you will do

• Champion systemic and emergent gameplay, balancing open-ended play with clear structure and pacing.
• Own and evolve the game design process for projects, from idea to implementation.
• Collaborate with the creative, tech, art, and production leads to align design with project scope and technical realities.
• Communicate design clearly through specs, whiteboarding, diagrams, and hands-on implementation when needed.

Requirements

• At least 1–2 shipped titles in a senior or lead design role, ideally on open world, FPS or sandbox projects
• Experience building, leading and mentoring a team of designers.
• Experience owning core gameplay or systems design across a full production cycle.
• Strong written and visual communication with the ability to understand complex design systems and articulate them clearly and efficiently.
• Familiarity with modern game editors and toolchains (Unreal/Blueprints or equivalent).
• Experience working on projects of a ~50–100 people scale (AA or above).

Nice to have

• A background in modding/player created content, or games with emergent gameplay.
• Technical awareness around scripting, systems design, and pipelines.
• Experience working in a new IP or with an evolving creative vision.
• Prior work in or around a proprietary engine.

Culture & Benefits

• Flexible work environment driven by honesty and transparency, empowering both developers and researchers.
• Regular visits to Amsterdam with travel & accommodation covered for key studio events
• Learning & development budget, equipment provided, home-office budget
• Additional country-specific benefits depending on your country of residence.