Senior Designer

A Bit About Us

Gamemode One was founded 7 years ago to build innovative games and bring major IPs to the Minecraft Marketplace. We are scaling to take on new offering types in Minecraft, while branching out to develop a bold new independent game. We continue to prioritize staff well-being and an excellent working environment.

We care deeply about our vibrant company culture, which enables us all to do our best work. We are an established, fully self-funded studio with roots in Minecraft and ambitions to deliver experimental games for PC and console platforms. We aim to be high-integrity in the gaming space - doing right by our staff, and right by our players.

The Opportunity

In our growing organization, you’ll be crafting engaging and exciting gameplay on live and in-development products, owning expertly-balanced game-systems, and carefully crafted monetization models. You’ll support the team, ensuring aligned design direction throughout development, including mentoring designers and collaborating with programmers.

You’ll bring your knowledge on systems design, live service games, monetization and learn our engines and tools. You’ll learn the constantly evolving platform of Minecraft, help us explore new offering types, and contribute to our first Unity project. You will work with stakeholders and analyze player metrics to refine gameplay - helping bring the player’s voice right into the heart of development. You will not just be working at a great company, but actively pushing forward design at Gamemode One in alignment with studio creative pillars.

Within 1 month, you’ll…

• Gain a deep understanding of in-development games and immerse yourself in the company's design vision and creative pillars
• Actively participate in brainstorming sessions, sharing your insights on direction and the overall player experience
• Build relationships with the whole team, with a focus on learning about the rest of the design team and key product leadership
• Demonstrate cultural understanding and values alignment by leveraging curiosity and keen judgement while learning about the company
• Understand the positioning of Gamemode One in the market, including our company structure, the vision for our game, and the company's present projects and future goals
• Support project milestone reviews, noting key feedback and insights to inform ongoing design iteration

Within 3 months, you’ll…

• Prototype, design and implement testable gameplay for a new live-service title, including monetization and economy design
• Provide meaningful balancing, iteration, and feedback to support a quality gameplay experience on your first product launch with us
• Establish mentorship relationships with junior designers, identifying strengths and growth areas.
• Have built connections with internal leadership and external stakeholders
• Contribute to the continual refinement of design documentation, to aid in collaboration with the rest of the development team
• Take on running key product milestone meetings, braintrusts across multiple projects

Within 6 months, you’ll…

• Spearhead breaking down key player metrics, iterating on game balance and design based on insights.
• Develop a post-release content roadmap for a live service title, evolves the product and grows player engagement.
• Strengthen the design documentation process, mentoring the team in creating and maintaining evolving design artefacts
• Push forward the development and refinement of features and content on our in-development indie title
• Actively contribute to the design direction of upcoming projects.
• Mentor and foster a collaborative game design culture, ensuring game design decisions are well-informed and player-focused.

Within 12 months, you’ll…

• Continue mentoring and supporting the design team, ensuring high-level design goals remain consistent throughout development.
• Provide design consultation and insights across multiple projects, offering guidance and feedback for ongoing iteration.
• Explore what the continued evolution of your role could entail, taking on responsibilities that are best aligned with your growing skillset and product needs

Why our job descriptions look like this

Our job descriptions look different than the average, and that’s on purpose! We find the normal approach to be far too prescriptive. Defining explicit qualifications and requirements would be us defining how you should have acquired a certain skillset. What these generally achieve is intimidating those who don’t fit the mold to not apply. That’s not our style. In an effort to be inclusive, and clear, we take a more descriptive approach. Read through the opportunity, and the description of the work you’ll be doing. Decide for yourself if the work excites you, and is something that you are able to rise to the challenge of.

Benefits

• Unlimited paid time off, with a 2-week minimum
• Health Spending Account of $3000/year
• Charitable matching of $2000/year
• Investment in professional development
• Flexible hybrid schedule, with a focus on in-office collaboration
• Access to the benefits above without a probationary period