Game Director [Splinter Cell]

As a Game Director at Ubisoft Toronto, you transform a creative vision into a variety of systems and mechanics that combine to create an engaging experience for players to enjoy. You provide your team with the direction to design their specific gameplay features and allow them the flexibility to experiment and iterate.

While your designers focus on their areas of ownership, you pay attention to the larger picture, overseeing how the overall player experience and game systems are coming together: Core game loop, gameplay depth, user experience, progression, pace, balance, and – of course – quality. You ensure that all elements related to design work together cohesively to fit the intended experience and make it fun.

On Being a Game Director on Splinter Cell:

As a Game Director on Splinter Cell, you are responsible for the moment-to-moment gameplay. How do the gadgets work? How do NPC search when they notice something amiss? How light does the camera need to feel? How much noise does it make when Sam Fisher takes down an enemy? You’ll be helping us execute all of these things. Perhaps more importantly, you’ll be fine tuning the experience when all of those things come together. You’re helping all of the elements resonate at just the right frequency, to ensure a highly polished, hardcore stealth experience that invites players in, and rewards mastery.

The daily life of a Game Director at Ubisoft Toronto:

• Work with the creative director and the dev team to create the game by tuning and executing a vision that is innovative, strong, appropriate, fitting with IP, and implementable by the team;
• Develop your game design direction to make a truly fun and engaging experience. Evangelize this direction across the production team;
• Support your game designers in developing their features (e.g. gameplay rules, progression systems, combat systems, weapon attributes, artificial intelligence behaviours, 3Cs, etc.) + provide mentorship and constructive feedback to achieve quality;
• Work closely with level design leadership to ensure that the two disciplines support and strengthen each other;
• Inspire and collaborate with interdependent teams to align all design, technical, graphic, and narrative elements.
• Review and discuss budgets & timelines with the producer + keep the editorial team up to date on progress and milestones;
• Adapt to technical and production constraints, feedback, and play test results; readjusting your design direction when need be;
• Anticipate technological advancements and stay up to date on market trends to evolve our production processes and define our best practices + share them with our studios;
• Understand and employ user experience design by upholding benchmarks for discoverability, player understanding, cognitive load, and by supporting UX testing. 

• A college diploma in Game Design or equivalent;
• At least 7 years of game design experience + 3 years of leadership in game production;
• In-depth knowledge of game engines (e.g. Unity or Unreal) & their limitations, Photoshop, and the Office Suite (especially Excel and PowerPoint);
• A highly innovative, empathetic, creative, and collaborative spirit;
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, presentation, problem-solving, organizational, and mentorship skills;
• Critical thinking, curiosity, resourcefulness, and plenty of flexibility;
• Ability to sift through data and come to meaningful conclusions;
• Familiarity with online gaming communities and live streaming platforms (e.g. Twitch);
• A solid understanding of the gaming market & a passion for video games.

What to send our way:

• Your CV, highlighting your background, skills, and any games shipped.

Ubisoft is a global leader in gaming with teams across the world creating original and memorable gaming experiences, from Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six to Just Dance and more. We believe diverse perspectives help both players and teams thrive. If you’re passionate about innovation and pushing entertainment boundaries, join our journey and help us create the unknown!

We embrace a hybrid work model helping you stay connected with your team and aligned with business priorities, while giving you the opportunity to maintain your work-life balance. Note, that some roles are fully office-based and are not eligible for hybrid work. 

You can learn more about Life at Ubisoft here: https://toronto.ubisoft.com/life-at-ubisoft/