Senior Gameplay Designer

Who We Are

Founded in 2023, 2K Sports Lab is the newest stand alone studio at 2K looking to push game development boundaries to bring 2K's next groundbreaking sports franchise to life. We're building a world-class team at our new Vancouver, BC location where our goal is to deliver an exceptional experience through bold ideas, technical excellence, and creative collaboration. We're seeking passionate and driven professionals across all areas of game development to help shape this ambitious vision. If you’re interested in tackling unique challenges and think you have what it takes to level up our team, we encourage you to apply!

What We Need

Our studio is looking for an experienced Gameplay Designer who has a high quality bar, a passion for replicating authentic sports behaviors and experience in systems design.  

In this role, you will work with a production partner to creatively lead AI Engineers, Animation Engineers, and Animators to set the vision for and implement authentic sports behaviors to build highly polished world- class gameplay for what will be the next massive sports franchise in our industry!

The Gameplay Designer will work with the Gameplay Design Director to set a vision for a significant gameplay area and partner with production and tech peers to lead a team to deliver against that vision.

What You’ll Do

• Be the ‘Product Owner’ for your gameplay area

  • Acquire an intimate knowledge of our target player and our product goals

  • Acquire an intimate knowledge of the competitive landscape

  • Work with the ‘Gameplay Design Director’ to define the vision for your gameplay area

  • Partner with producer and tech peers to lead your team

  • Drive the generation and prioritization of your team’s backlog

  • Collaborate with the QA team to drive testing of the game experience and drive external testing as needed

  • Evaluate progress and game quality and partner with Production to formulate and revise plans to drive execution

• ‘Craft the Design’ of your gameplay area

  • Collaborate with your team to create designs that execute on the agreed upon feature visions

  • Live our creative process and create necessary documentation

  • Manage the timely generation of design documentation

• ‘Steer the Implementation’ of your gameplay vision

  • Collaborate with Engineers and Animators to steer the execution of your vision

  • Collaborate with your Project Management and Technical partners to lead your feature team (5-10 developers)

  • Champion the player experience, bringing the players perspective to all decision making

  • Be constantly analyzing the software, adding to, grooming and prioritizing the backlog

• Inspire and align your team on your vision for your gameplay area

  • Passionately and clearly present visions to the team

  • Share design material in asynchronous ways to aid visibility

  • Work closely with Engineers, Animators, and Artists to implement your vision

  • Help to create a positive, inclusive and collaborative environment for your team

• Be an ‘individual contributor’ when time allows

  • Understand the technical details of how the game works

  • Exemplify WGLL by being keen and able to be in engine in order to deliver the strongest possible experience

What Will Make You A Great Fit

• Passion for Sports and Sports Video Games

• Experience designing  high quality ‘second-to-second’ game experiences

• Experience with, and passion for, systemic game design

• Experience leading a feature team team (7+ developers)

• Experience working with Animation SEs and Animators and is familiar with animation technology (Blend techniques, Masking, Procedural Animation etc.).

• Appetite for taking on  ‘Product Owner’ responsibilities (backlog management and prioritization)

• Positive, ‘can do’, proactive and ‘hands-on’ attitude 

Beneficial Qualifications

• Experience working on sports games

• Experience with animation based features

• Experience with AI based features

The pay range for this position in British Columbia at the start of employment is expected to be between CAD $75,700 and CAD $112,060 per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an 'at-will position' and the company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities are provided  suitable accommodations to enjoy equal employment opportunities, including the ability to participate in the job application or interview process,. Please contact us if you need an accommodation as part of your application process or otherwise have questions about the Company’s accommodation policy and review process.

Please be aware that 2K does not conduct job interviews or make job offers over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, or others.  2K also does not engage in any financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process, and will never ask a candidate for their personal or financial information over an app or other unofficial chat channel.  Any attempt to do so may be the result of a scam or phishing attack, and you should not engage.  2K’s in-house recruitment team will only contact individuals through their official Company email addresses (i.e., via a 2k.com email domain).

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