Lead Designer

Our London Studio are looking for an experienced Lead Designer.

Role Overview
- Define the creative vision of the project with the assistance of the Creative Lead
- Responsible for the quality and timely delivery of the work produced by the designers
- Provide creative feedback on game concepts to help plan and organise the work
- Design some features for the project, leaving time for other Lead duties
- Responsible for spreading good practices and knowledge about their area(s) of expertise amongst the team

Key areas of responsibility:
Game development
- Responsible for the quality of the product and the timely delivery of game design assets
- Responsible for ensuring the technical capabilities of the target platform(s) are known and understood by the design team and taken advantage of where appropriate
- Responsible for defining the creative vision and direction of the project with the assistance of the Creative Lead and Art Director
- Review and provide feedback to the game designers about their work
- Evangelise production and game design best practice
- Assign QA bugs to designers and ensure the bug database is cleared

Project management
- Apply and use processes and templates as provided by the Producer
- Work with the Producer to determine the day-to-day workloads and assignments of a team of game designers
- Liaise with the Producer to define milestones and ensure that they are achieved
- Provide the Creative Leads and Producers with alternatives/options to manage change requests and resolve time-cost–quality conflicts
- Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of industry practice and standards, and ensure game design team remains competitive and amongst the best in the industry

Communication
- Maintain effective communication with Lead Programmer and Lead Artist and understand the constraints/issues they have, and balance the game design and implementation with these
- Report weekly to the Producer on the titles in development
- Responsible for ensuring the creative vision is understood by all the designers
- Represent the designers in management discussions and planning meetings
- Ensure the game design team is aware of project vision, key dates and milestones

Team Management
- Responsible for identifying and recommending development and training opportunities for the game design team
- Responsible for the development and career progression of the game design team
- Day-to-day line management of the designers, including recruitment and appraisals
- Ensure that teams maintain and strong morale, focus and efficiency
- Work with the Producers to improve team work-life balance and team efficiency
- Ensure design team is using the most appropriate tools and techniques
- Hold presentations, demos, interviews, etc. as needed, to internal and external audiences