Lead World Designer at Wizards of the Coast

At Wizards of the Coast, we connect people around the world through play and imagination. From our genre defining games like Magic: The Gathering® and Dungeons & Dragons® to our growing multiverse, we continue to innovate and build new ways to foster friendship and connection. That’s where you come in!

Atomic Arcade is a brand-new video game development studio located in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina area led by industry veterans from AAA game and film studios. We are in the process of staffing up our development team with outstanding talent to build our first multi-platform, AAA game - a bold and contemporary new take on the GI JOE Universe starring the legendary character Snake Eyes! This is an excellent opportunity to not only build an outstanding AAA experience but to also help form the core foundations for the studio and team to build upon. We are proud to be part of Wizards of the Coast which is a division Hasbro.

Atomic Arcade seeks a passionate, experienced, and team-oriented Lead World Designer to help us build an amazing game-of-the-year caliber 3rd Person Action title. In this role, you will be a feature lead focused on our systemic open-world structure and mission content while working with the team and driving them across the whole game development cycle.

The ideal candidate will have proven experience leading teams and building outstanding open-world in other AAA titles that showcase immersive environments, compelling storytelling, exciting encounters, and be passionate about the opportunity to work on a well known franchise.

What You'll Do:

• Own and drive focused aspects of the game’s world/missions from concept all the way to ship.
• Help craft and develop game systems used for the open-world, missions and activities that players can interact with.
• Collaborate with other departments, ensuring relevant teams are involved and informed throughout development.
• Act as strong quality advocate for team, developing content that is game-of-the-year caliber and helping others on the team achieve the same high quality.
• Lead a small team of mission/world designers, empowering and encouraging them to do great work.
• Ensure all levels flow well and are well paced through accurate mix of storytelling, exploration, and encounter design.
• Work with the gameplay team to refine world building metrics and with the Level Design Lead to ensure environments are built within these guidelines.
• Create and maintain documentation for all owned environments.
• Help evangelizes the project's vision to the rest of the team at large.
• Regularly play the game, providing constructive feedback and suggestions to other members of the studio.
• Remain up to date on industry trends and competitor games.

What You'll Bring:

• 7+ years of experience as a Senior or Lead Level Designer / Senior or Lead World / Mission with at least 2 shipped AAA titles.
• Deep understanding of how to design and build environments that support combat, traversal, and narrative.
• Experience working in Unreal, other modern game engine.
• Experience scripting events, encounters, and interactions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Self-sufficient and self-motivated, able to push features forward but also know when to ask for guidance or help.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with gameplay mechanics, progression, or AI.

We are an equal opportunity / affirmative action employer

The above is intended to describe the general content of and the requirements for satisfactory performance in this position. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of the duties, responsibilities, or requirements of the position.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.