Senior Systems Designer (12-month contract)

Job Description

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.

Our studio operates as a remote-first workplace, offering flexible work arrangements.

PLEASE NOTE: At this time, we are only able to hire candidates who are legally eligible to work in Canada and reside within Canada.

Blackbird Interactive is looking for a Senior Systems Designer to join on a sci-fi, first-person action game built in Unreal 5. The game is heavily systems-driven, and uses a blend of hand-authored and procedural content, with deep immersion, emergent gameplay, and an emphasis on narrative.

As a Senior Systems Designer, you are responsible for the design, tuning and maintenance of many important, complex systems, from core gameplay to economy and progression systems, with the goal of delivering a more dynamic player experience. You are a key bridge between Design and the Art and Code disciplines. You are also responsible for designing both features and dev-facing tools for use in Unreal. You care about shaping an engaging player experience and bringing together a blend of creative and technical skills and experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, prototype and implement complex gameplay systems and tools, in collaboration with the other Designers, Artists and Programmers
• Provide team-facing documentation to inform and guide the work of downstream groups
• Provide creative and technical feedback on the work of other Designers
• Understand, interpret and execute on creative direction, in alignment with project goals
• Act as a technical expert on key features and participate in data debugging
• Guide the technical work of others and ensure that content creation follows documented best practices
• Help test new tools / features before distribution to the rest of the team
• Participate in planning a roadmap to completion for the systems for which you’re responsible
• Mentor designers and promote good design principles across the team

Requirements

• Minimum 6 years in technical design or systems design
• Demonstrate fundamental knowledge of game design processes and skills investigating in-game issues
• At least two shipped titles
• Experience with Unreal 5 and Blueprints
• Self-direction and a proven ability to thrive in a highly technical environment

Pluses

• Experience with other areas of design (level design, UX/UI, encounter scripting, etc.)
• Experience playing modern first person games, including genres like Immersive Sim or Action-RPG
• Experience or knowledge of 2D / 3D software
• Experience with a variety of game engines
• Experience with version control software