Senior Systems Designer II at Skydance

Why Join Us? 

To put it simply: You’ll collaborate with exceptional colleagues to create top-tier, high-quality interactive experiences for the highly acclaimed new title, “Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra”.  We set out to build an uncompromising vision for a game studio and found the ideal partner in Skydance to extend its reach and sustainability. To fully deliver our vision for these games we assembled the best external development, publishing and IP partners in the world. Our internal team will remain small relative to other AAA developers so we can all maintain the highest levels of familiarity, trust and effectiveness. You’ll be surrounded by industry veterans, currently with an average of 20 years’ experience, in a climate of mutual trust, maturity, candor and playful collaboration. We believe that life’s too short to work with difficult people, regardless of talent, so exceptional character and strong principles are requirements for every role. Your days will be focused on solving creative and technical problems, not navigating corporate politics. 

We are open to a spectrum of remote working and office scenarios for staff. This will include regular team get-togethers and travel throughout the year, so we benefit from the best of both worlds – flexibility and efficiency as well as team cohesion.

Skydance New Media is hiring remote employees within California, British Columbia and Alberta. Applicants must be willing to relocate to one of these locations. Additional locations may be considered in the future.

For information on Skydance’s privacy practices, see the Skydance U.S. Personnel Privacy Notice located at  https://skydance.com/privacy-personnel/.

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What you’ll do:

We’re looking for a Senior Systems Designer II to join our core team developing a high quality, AAA single-player story-driven action-adventure game built using the Unreal Engine.

As a key member of the design team, you will play an essential role in designing and executing various aspects of the game, including but not limited to player combat features and mechanics. You will also help establish the conventions, processes, and best practices that drive development. Working closely with the Senior Systems Designer for combat, the combat team, the Game Director, and other multidisciplinary feature teams, you will be instrumental in planning, prototyping, and developing innovative combat systems and scenarios that set new standards for interactive entertainment.

• Design, prototype, and maintain core combat gameplay features and scenarios, ensuring they align with the game's creative and narrative vision.
• Implement combat designs by refining features and collaborating with system and level designers on setups.
• Collaborate closely with Engineering, Cinematography, and Art teams to bring innovative combat systems to life.
• Lead the development process by setting clear objectives, creating accurate estimates, and identifying key dependencies.
• Continuously improve designs through iteration, leveraging feedback, playtests, and game metrics to make impactful adjustments.
• Work with external partners to ensure quality standards are met and project timelines are maintained.

• Have ten or more years of experience in game development
• Take risks in order to push interactive entertainment forward in new and innovative ways
• Have excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Have a strong understanding of high-level design and the understanding of how their contributions will affect the game as a whole
• Thrive in a self-driven environment
• Appreciate and respect cross-discipline collaboration
• Have experience with Unreal Engine. UE5 experience a plus. Technical experience (Blueprint or other visual scripting , C++, etc) a huge plus.

The salary range for this position in Los Angeles is $120,000 – $175,000.  The salary offered may vary based on the candidate’s location, qualifications, experience and relevant expertise, among other factors.  The range indicated is for base salary only and does not reflect the total compensation package, including bonus, benefits, etc. 

We realize that skills and expertise can come from many different experiences and paths, and we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of the requirements as written in the job description. 

#NewMedia #LI-Remote

What is Skydance New Media?

Amy Hennig (co-creator of the Uncharted series) and Julian Beak, both 30-year veterans in the game industry, have built a new studio with Skydance Media (the studio behind Mission: Impossible, Top Gun: Maverick, The Old Guard, Grace and Frankie) that is laser-focused on premium action-adventure games with rich, compelling stories. Our first productions will tap into the traditions of adventure cinema to create an engaging, energetic experience that captures the spirit of TV and film to excite both gamers and non-gamers alike. These games will be best-in-class for both visual fidelity and innovative gameplay on the latest console platforms and PCs.

Visit Our Website: Skydance New Media

Skydance is a diversified media company founded by David Ellison in 2010 to create high quality, event-level entertainment for global audiences. The Company brings to life stories of immersive worlds across its feature film, television, interactive, and animation divisions.

Skydance is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to building and fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce. We welcome and consider applicants for employment regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy status, military/veteran status, disability, or any other protected category. Diversity in the workplace is not just a commitment, it is who we are and a reflection of what makes our world special. 

Recruitment Fraud Alert

It has come to our attention that there may be fraudulent activity by individuals impersonating our Talent Acquisition team. Skydance will only contact you from an official “@skydance.com” email address. If you suspect that you are being contacted by an unauthorized person or believe that the correspondence you have received is suspicious, please do not click on any links or attachments in such emails and submit any questions or concerns to our information security team at information.security@skydance.com.