As a Senior Level Designer, you will take ownership of designing, refining, and curating dynamic combat and narrative encounters for a first-person, story-driven action game. You will be responsible for shaping the moment-to-moment gameplay experience — crafting memorable scenarios, balancing AI composition and behaviors, and authoring “golden” encounters that showcase the best of the game’s systems and storytelling.
You are exactly who we need if you thrive at the intersection of combat design, scripting, and world pacing. You bring a sharp eye for encounter flow, a strong player empathy mindset, and a passion for systemic gameplay that rewards creativity and experimentation. In other words, you are not just adding enemies — you are designing experiences.
Requirements
6+ years of professional experience in Level Design or Encounter Design on AA/AAA PC or console titles.
At least one shipped title with responsibility for combat encounters, mission pacing, or AI-driven gameplay spaces.
Expertise in Unreal Engine 4, including Blueprint scripting, AI spawning systems, triggers, and gameplay implementation.
Proven ability to design compelling first-person combat encounters, integrating AI, environment, and narrative intent.
Strong understanding of combat readability, player affordances, arena design, and encounter flow pacing.
Skilled at crafting encounters that support systemic gameplay, multiple playstyles, and replayability.
Comfortable reviewing and curating existing content to improve pacing, focus, and overall quality.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills — you work well with Game Design, Narrative, Animation, and Engineering teams.
Responsibilities
Design, build, and polish high-impact encounters, from early layout to scripted implementation and final tuning.
Curate and refine the existing encounter pool.
Author golden path encounters that exemplify the best of the game’s systems, world, and narrative tension.
Tune and balance enemy composition, AI behaviors, and environmental factors to ensure dynamic, challenging, and fair encounters.
Ensure encounters support multiple player strategies and systemic gameplay opportunities.
Collaborate with Narrative Designers to align encounter tone, stakes, and story progression.
Integrate and balance combat setups within linear, semi-open, and sandbox-style levels.
Participate in regular playtests and feedback sessions, iterating based on both internal feedback and design intent.
Maintain thorough documentation and maps for encounter design intent, composition, and tuning data.
Contribute to improving internal encounter design pipelines, tools, and workflows.
Nice to Have
Experience designing AI-driven encounters in immersive sims, systemic shooters, or narrative-heavy games.
Familiarity with faction design, stealth-AI interactions, or reactive enemy behaviors.
Background in scripting combat puzzles, emergent moments, or alternative/non-lethal solutions.
Deep understanding of encounter progression across difficulty curves and player power scaling.
Passion for polishing — strong attention to pacing, setup clarity, and combat feedback.
Experience with cinematic moment integration, ambient storytelling, and visual scripting.
Comfort reviewing legacy content and making editorial-level decisions about pacing and value.