Design Director – Certain Affinity

Published On: 8 January 2024Categories: Careers

Certain Affinity is a well-established and growing independent developer with locations in Austin and Toronto. Our culture reflects the values and the vibrant nature of the cities we call home. This includes a commitment to diversity, excellence, and work-life balance. We're best known for co-developing numerous AAA FPS games, though now we are creating exciting new games of our own.

As the Design Director you will own and drive the game design on a development project (Lead Dev or Co-Dev). You thrive on breathing life into a game vision and relish the idea of solving new creative design problems. You tackle challenging, novel situations every day in a professional and constructive manner that helps drive team culture and project results. You are the champion for the player, the voice of design and a key project leader.

Required Skills

15+ years overall design experience
5+ years leading a AAA design team as Design Director, Game Director or Lead Designer with a proven track record of creating and maintaining direction and bringing it to fruition
A leadership role on at least two shipped AAA console and/or PC action-based games
A strong eye for and deep understanding of the fundamentals of creating fun and engaging gameplay, with an ability to critically but respectfully dissect work and suggest meaningful ways to improve it
Strong knowledge of gameplay design principles in AI, Meta, Combat, UI/UX, Narrative and Level design
Extensive experience identifying, mitigating, and resolving risks on projects and within design teams
Highly organized, detail-oriented, self-directed, and capable of instilling that characteristic in others
Understanding of technical and resource constraints and time and monetary budgets in games and proven ability to work within them to maximum effect
A diplomatic leader who can have crucial and, at times, sensitive conversations
An inspirational leader who can “rally the troops”
A tactical thinker with excellent analytical and implementation skills
Strong at providing feedback that empowers and inspires team members to produce their best work
Expert at presenting and communicating a game vision and its various features to the team, other stakeholders, partners, and press
Skilled at developing productive relationships with peers and senior leaders, able to work through complex situations and disagreements to drive projects forward
Well-versed in the new IP development process and timeline, including empathy and understanding of the various departments, partners, and stakeholders’ perspectives and goals at different stages
A consummate professional and pragmatic problem solver.