Narrative Lead in Guildford

Battlefield needs you! The team at Criterion are seeking an experienced, versatile narrative all‑rounder to join the Battlefield team as a Narrative Lead. This is an opportunity to help lead one of our teams, as they set and develop the narrative vision for an exciting part of Battlefield’s future. The candidate should be an experienced writer who loves various forms of interactive narrative and knows the ins and outs of how story is delivered in a AAA production environment. As a Narrative Lead you are not only capable of delivering high quality scripts and narrative designs, but you can also work to develop, empower, and encourage your team to achieve the best of their abilities.

What a Narrative Lead does at Criterion:

• This role will report into the Senior Narrative Director, working to define the narrative experience for the product in close collaborations with writers, narrative designers, game designers/producers, art, audio, our cinematics team and other key stakeholders.
• You will write narrative sections that help set the tone and shape for the project, as well as contributing to writing scripts as well as forging stories and creating memorable characters.
• Alongside this you will be asked to help create and guide the narrative design that makes the story player‑centric.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the Creative Director and Senior Narrative Director to deliver the core story and narrative vision.
• Work with narrative discipline leaders to create benchmark pieces that help set the tone, style and format for scripted elements across the game.
• Help to ensure that all narrative content aligns with the franchise pillars.
• Coordinate task management, goal setting and planning for a team of narrative designers and writers.
• Oversee the tasking, report and feedback for contract writers.
• Partner closely with designers and producers to assist in setting the narrative design vision from concepts to integration.
• Act as a point of contact and story champion between the narrative team and other disciplines as well as with external writers.
• Mentor and develop others on the narrative and wider design team in narrative design principles and methodologies.
• Attend offsite narrative meetings, casting sessions, or voice‑over (VO) and performance capture sessions as needed.
• Assist in the interviewing and hiring decisions for additional in‑house or contract team members.

Qualifications:

• Proven writing experience covering cutscenes, in‑game scripts, bios, casting briefs and in-game text.
• A practical understanding and experience of narrative design techniques and approaches of how to make stories playable.
• Shipped multiple projects including AAA projects (or equivalent) with a narrative role.
• 8+ years writing experience in writing (this can include film, television, theatre, comics, books, boardgames etc but must include some videogames experience).
• Experience maintaining voice, style and tone throughout multiple forms of media.
• An understanding of how to break down and convey narrative to teams who are less familiar with them.
• A knowledge of and ability to help develop and refine narrative and cinematic tools.
• Writing/narrative design portfolio that demonstrates your work.
• An interest in videogames, military shooters and military history.
• Practical experience of working with directors on voice, motion and/or performance capture shoots.
• Leadership experience that shows a track to, or includes credits such as lead, director, or equivalent, mentorship roles, other leadership roles.
• Proven ability to provide and take day‑to‑day guidance and feedback.
• Familiarity working on cross‑location development and/or working with remote development teams.