Director, Game Design

In anticipation of closing our recently-announced agreement to acquire the charitable gaming business of Grover Gaming (https://grovergaming.com/), Light & Wonder (https://www.lnw.com/) is growing our team to deliver the best games, culture, and results in the industry. This new business will expand Light & Wonder's (L&W) cross-platform leadership, as the premier developer of games across Gaming, Social, iGaming, and (soon-to-be) Charitable Gaming channels. Grover Gaming is already a high-performing, culture-first organization, and we are excited to unlock L&W's deep portfolio of content that we know will exceed customer and player expectations. This role will be based in Raleigh, North Carolina and is contingent on the acquisition closing, which is currently planned for early May.

Job Summary:

The Director of Game Design is a key leadership role responsible for managing a game development team consisting of engineers, game artists, mathematicians, and sound designers. They will be supporting the design, development, and delivery of gaming products that meet business objectives in the gaming industry.

Essential Job Functions:

• Manage and lead a game development team of designers, engineers, artists, and producers.

• Drive the creative vision and direction for our games, in collaboration with game designers along with internal teams and external partners to bring ideas to life.

• Oversee the entire game development lifecycle, from concept and prototyping to production and launch.

• Establish and maintain best practices, processes, and workflows for game development, ensuring efficiency and quality.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define requirements and drive product development.

• Identify and mitigate risks and issues, communicate them clearly to stakeholders, and develop mitigation plans.

• Develop and maintain a positive, collaborative, high-performance culture that encourages innovation, creativity, and accountability.

• Mentor and coach team members to foster their professional growth and development.

• Work closely with other departments, including QA, PMO, product management, marketing, and sales to ensure successful game launches and post-launch support.

Training and/or Experience:

• 15+ years of experience in software engineering, mathematics, and/or game development with at least 5 years in a leadership role

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Proven track record of successfully leading and delivering high-quality games from concept to launch.

• Proven track record in managing and leading software engineering teams

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills

• Strong understanding of game design principles, mechanics, and player psychology.

• Passion for gaming and a commitment to creating exceptional gaming experiences for players.

• Experience in working with artists, product managers and designers.

• Experience in building embedded applications.

• Strong interest in understanding game design principles, mechanics, and player psychology.

• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to motivate and inspire a team.

• In office 5 days a week, and up to 20% travel required

Education:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in computer science, mathematics, or other game design related field

Physical Requirements:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, bend, use hands, operate a computer, and have specific vision abilities to include close and distance vision, and ability to adjust focus working with computer and business equipment

Work Conditions:

• The work conditions are representative and typical of similar jobs in comparable organizations

• Some domestic and international travel required

Light & Wonder and its affiliates (collectively, L&W) are engaged in highly regulated gaming businesses. As a result, certain L&W employees may, among other things, be required to obtain a gaming or other license(s), undergo background investigations or security checks, or meet certain standards dictated by law, regulation or contracts. In order to ensure L&W complies with its regulatory and contractual commitments, as a condition to hiring and continuing to employ its employees, L&W requires all of its employees to meet those requirements that are necessary to fulfill their individual roles. As a prerequisite to employment with L&W (to the extent permitted by law), you shall be asked to consent to L&W conducting a due diligence/background investigation on you.

This job description should not be interpreted as all-inclusive; it is intended to identify major responsibilities and requirements of the job. The employee in this position may be requested to perform other job-related tasks and responsibilities than those stated above.

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Light & Wonder is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants due to race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. If you'd like more information about your equal employment opportunity rights as an applicant under the law, please click here for EEOC Poster.