Senior Games Designer

Location: On-site Sheffield or Hybrid (3 days in office). Relocation assistance is available.

About Steel City Interactive

SCI was born out of passion for video games and boxing, with the ambition to create an authentic and exciting boxing game that does justice to the sport we love. What started as a fun prototype has grown into ‘Undisputed’, the first major boxing video game in over a decade. SCI is a welcoming place for expression and open communication, where everyone has a voice. We’re a diverse bunch, consisting of people with decades of games industry experience, graduates and talented individuals who come from other industries. We all bring knowledge and learn from each other. Together we are driven by ambition to bring the world of boxing into a video game like never before.

The Role

We’re looking for a Senior Games Designer, who will be responsible for gameplay features, game systems and mechanics from conception to completion. Taking responsibility and ownership for various areas of design you’ll work closely with other disciplines to ensure that the features deliver in both quality and to the games vision. You’ll be a passionate and level-headed designer who will be proactive and will always be thinking about the player experience. You’ll gather feedback and action it where required. Always asking the question, what is the value of the feature for the player and to the business. You’ll also feel right at home with creating prototypes and mechanics in blueprints in the Unreal Engine to prove out your designs. This is a full time permanent role (37.5 hours per week).

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of various features from end-to-end implementation, being the focal point for these features within the design team.
• Designing game mechanics and game systems that help keep the player engaged and excited to play our games.
• Using Unreal Engine 5 to build prototypes and prove out design concepts.
• Collaborating with other designers and the game director to ensure that you are delivering features that surprise and delight our players.
• Evangalise features you are working on and the overall game vision to others within the organisation.
• Use critical thinking skills to analyse feedback, and action any required changes.
• Write clear and concise design documentation, ensuring that it is always kept up to date.
• Collaborate with designers, programmers and artists to ensure work is delivered with a consistent quality and on time.
• Working with other designers to ensure that feature knowledge and progress is shared.
• Assess and communicate issues and risk within reasonable timescales.
• Have a keen eye for quality, identifying areas that could be improved, ensuring the game is meeting the highest standards.
• Mentoring and supporting colleagues in both technical and personal development.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• At least 5 years in the games industry as a Game Designer.
• Shipped at least one game, where you were heavily involved in game design and gameplay features. Preferably console or PC.
• Proficiency in using Unreal Engine 4 or 5 and the Blueprints system.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Deep understanding of game mechanics and player value.
• Be able to work independently and as part of a team.

What we offer

• Healthy work-life balance: 23 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), that increases 1 day per year of service.
• Christmas shut down.
• Holiday exchange programme.
• Flexible working hours.
• Support for family life: Enhanced Maternity and Paternity pay. Option to add children to our Healthcare Cash Plan.
• Great office environment: A dog friendly studio based in Sheffield, with free snacks, fruit and drinks! Free parking.
• Health & wellbeing support: Company sick pay, 2 days paid Mental Health leave per year, Healthcare Cash Plan which includes optical and dental, Access to 24/7 doctors, Employee Assistance Programme, £300 wellbeing stipend every January.
• Learning support: Career progression path, 5 Learning days per year, Unlimited access to Udemy courses.
• Additional financial support: Technology scheme (up to £750), Discount Club at over 350 high street stores, Discretionary Cost of Living Payments, Relocation benefits, Electric Car Vehicle Scheme.
• Connection and perks: Wrap parties & company paid outings, Individual entertainment budget to cover team events.

Steel City Interactive is an equal opportunity employer. We’re committed to building a diverse team and welcome all applications, considering them without regard to race, religion, belief, age, gender, gender expression, gender identity, gender reassignment, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, sex or sexual orientation.

If you’re excited about this role and believe you would add value to our team, but don’t meet every single requirement, we would still like to hear from you – please let us know about the value you would bring in your application.