Lead Game Designer (Immersive Sim)

TL;DR

Lead Game Designer (Immersive Sim): Leading a team of designers to build a next-generation immersive sim focused on non-lethal exploration and meaningful player choices with an accent on GDD ownership, roadmap management, and cross-discipline alignment. Focus on mentoring experienced designers, implementing design concepts in Unreal Engine 5, and ensuring high-quality gameplay standards.

Location: Must be based in the United States

Salary: $150,000 - $170,000

Company

Independent game studio dedicated to creating deeply immersive, player-authored experiences in the tradition of System Shock and Deus Ex.

What you will do

• Lead and mentor a team of experienced designers across various multidisciplinary areas.
• Own and maintain the GDD and project roadmap, ensuring they remain accurate and useful for the team.
• Collaborate with the Game Director and leadership to translate high-level visions into actionable design goals.
• Identify design risks, staffing gaps, and process issues before they impact development.
• Validate and pressure-test design concepts through prototyping and implementation in Unreal Engine 5.
• Champion design quality and player experience through collaborative and candid feedback.

Requirements

• Lead Designer and people manager experience within the past 5 years on a successfully released PC or console title.
• 6+ years of total game design experience with at least two shipped titles.
• Deep understanding of the immersive sim genre and the ability to articulate its defining characteristics.
• Hands-on implementation experience with Unreal Engine 5.
• Strong decision-making skills and the ability to resolve conflicting feedback among stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Experience with systemic gameplay, emergent player choice, stealth, or RPG systems.
• Experience leading design teams through pre-production and major feature definition.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time remote work available anywhere in the US.
• Competitive compensation package with a full suite of benefits.
• Collaborative studio culture that values candor, empathy, and creativity.
• Opportunity to work directly with genre-defining industry veterans.