Lead Technical Designer Microsoft
Santa Monica, CA

Job Description

The Initiative is a new first-party game studio located in Santa Monica backed by Microsoft. Our studio is about craft, creating story, innovating, and looking ahead to the next big thing.

At the Initiative, we are looking for collaborative problem solvers who want to dive into something new and create groundbreaking experiences for our players. Join us for this once in a career opportunity to help build the studio, define our culture, and create an environment to attract world-class talent.

The Initiative has an immediate opening for an experienced Lead Technical Designer to help build and lead the development of design processes and pipelines from the ground up. The Lead Technical Designer needs to be able to pinpoint and develop the tools necessary to improve the developer experience and actively seek out ways to enhance designer tools to align that with project goals and ambitions. We're looking for someone with a proven history in creating design pipelines that mesh with the shared ambitions of others, while challenging how games are crafted. You are versatile, have strong development and production-sense, and the expertise to inspire and mentor others to do their best work.

As an experienced Lead Technical Designer, you will work directly with key stakeholders across disciplines to deliver the following:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

* Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
* 6+ years of technical experience in designing, developing, and shipping major game systems in a published game or entertainment with market or critical acclaim

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

* Willingness to improve team work experience and create processes to keep team efficient
* Demonstrated management and leadership of design and multi-discipline teams
* Proven expertise in design and end-to-end content supporting cross-device shared & unique experiences
* Passion for building fun, intuitive, and engaging games
* Self-motivated and drive for excellence
* Strong communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

#INITIATIVE

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* Drive the creation of design tools and processes that speed up iteration times and overall quality of work
* Experience with common game scripting languages such as Python/Lua/C#/UnrealScript
* Extremely important to constantly look for different ways to optimize process to increase output, be ahead of team, looking to future needs, and solve problems before they happen
* Owner of all documentation that pertains to design tools, pipelines, workflows, and other design processes
* Work with other teams within Microsoft to develop best practices, and how to utilize those features, knowledge share
* Responsible for communication between design team, programmers, and technical artists to create design tools that mesh with shared ambitions
* Responsible for training and onboarding new designers to master the tools pipeline, and training the design team on any newly developed tools
* Train and work with external partners to ensure they are utilizing established pipeline
* Contribute across multiple design features through every phase of game development
* Actively contribute to growth of new start up studio. Lead by example, including demonstrating a willingness to give and receive feedback, collaborate with others to share techniques, ideas, and contribute to a positive working environment