Associate Game Design Director

Job Description

At Farm Heroes Saga, we don’t just bear the title ‘Heroes’ – we embody it. We’re the proud minds behind 360 million global downloads and a thriving community of 5 million daily players. As Kingsters, we don’t just play games; we live them. Our team’s commitment to creativity, diversity, and collaboration has made Farm Heroes Saga the third biggest game at King. With the combined strength of an established brand and our steadfast drive to improve the game, the possibilities for growth are limitless. Just as our game uplifts millions, our workspace thrives on empowering each member, celebrating our unique backgrounds, and sharing findings daily. Join us on this journey where fun meets passion; every day is a new level to conquer.

Your role in the Kingdom:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Associate Game Design Director to join our team, whose primary focus will be to level up the creative vision for our game and grow the creative talents of our team members. You will also be improving creative aspects of our game, growing our audience, and forging stronger connections with our players to boost engagement. In this role, you will collaborate closely with the game's leadership team and multidisciplinary team members.

Your responsibilities would include:

• Report into and collaborate with the Product Lead to define and craft a creative vision for the core gameplay, ensuring alignment with the game strategy and objectives.
• Lead Game Design projects in your domain area, being responsible for the end-to-end process - from Discovery, to Testing, and Iteration.
• Manage and mentor a team of dedicated representatives of all creative crafts (such as game designers, UX designers and level designers), fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with craft leaders to create a working environment that enables Area members’ growth, and coach, support and challenge other leaders to contribute to this.
• Develop and oversee design processes and standard methodologies, ensuring high- quality design, processes, and creative elements across the game. Translate insights from various sources (User Research, Market Research, Data Analysis, A/B Tests) into robust game design solutions.
• Align with UX, Level Design, Developers, Producers, and Product Managers to build a roadmap of features that positively impacts our players. Bridge the gap between people from different roles, guaranteeing a fluid design process with clear communication between all the team members.
• Champion creative excellence within the team, driving design innovation and ensuring a player- focused approach to all aspects of game development. Actively seek for feedback from various team members in order to guarantee that everyone participated in the design processes.

Skills to Create Thrills:

• Proven experience in design leadership within the free- to- play casual games industry, as well as live game development and operations.
• Strong understanding of creative functions, including Game/Level Design, Art, UI, UX, Player Research, and Economy Design.
• Excellent people leadership and strong line management skills aimed at mentoring and growing creative teams, motivating and inspiring them to reach their full potential.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively in an agile project environment and influence stakeholders.
• All over the details and hands-on, with a strong focus on well- documented creative processes and treatments applied to features.
• Solid knowledge of the games market and current consumer expectations.
• Comfortable with metrics and data- informed decision- making.

About King

King is the game developer behind the world- famous Candy Crush franchise, as well as mobile game hits including Farm Heroes, Bubble Witch and Pet Rescue. Our mission – Making the World Playful – pushes us to create new experiences and elevate the gaming experience. Our curiosity for the unexplored, passion for games, respect for one another, and love for our players help us take the art and science of gaming to the next level.

A Great Saga Needs All Sorts of Heroes

Making games is fun. Especially when you do it with people who share the same idea of what makes a good workplace great. We craft games for everyone, no matter where they are or who they are, and we employ people from all kinds of backgrounds to bring them to life! Truth is, we simply cannot expect diversity in our players and originality in our games without first nurturing it in our people.