Senior Game Designer (Live Ops) - The Sims

Requisition Number: 179509

Position Title: Sr Game Designer

External Description:

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

In this role you will be part of the reimagining of The Sims that players know and love. The Sims is one of the top selling PC game franchise of all time and The Sims 4 is by far our most successful Sims game. We have 65 million registered players of the base game. To date, The Sims 4 has shipped over 50 content packs and countless base game feature and quality of life updates. The Sims 4 continues to transcend being "just a game" and continues to be a positive force in people's lives while occupying a unique creative space in the game industry. We're excited you're interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big. For more information about The Sims, follow @TheSims on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, like The Sims on Facebook, visit TheSims.com newsroom and tune into Behind The Sims on Youtube for the latest news and updates.

You will be reporting to the project's Development Director.

Location: Remote North America - open to most North America locations

Responsibilities

• Advocate for the design vision set by the Lead Game Designer and Design Director. Champion designs and get the team excited about the work.
• Collaborate with all team disciplines, including experience designers, engineers, quality assurance, producers, and artists to get support from the team and guide a project from initial design to final production.
• Design and own large features from concept through implementation to completion within our live ops team.
• Determine gameplay experience goals for designs, and tune features to meet those goals.
• Improve designs based on input from the team, user research and playtesting, game metrics, and sound systems design practices.
• Become an expert on Maxis' proprietary game designer development tools to implement your designs, tune, and bug fix.
• Collect and organize feedback from brainstorming workshops to inform design goals, visions, and solutions, and provide feedback to other designers.
• Be an active member of the development team using inclusive collaborative frameworks with diverse teams to decide on goals and establish the stories players want to tell within a given release.
• Become an expert on the game and our community, drawing from our large, varied player base and our past games to make and defend intelligent design choices going forward.
• Think about the future when implementing content, resulting in smartly scripted scalable systems and good design patterns and practices.
• Find practical and creative solutions that achieve the intended player experience and fit within the project scope.
• Mentor more junior members of the design team and provide feedback on ways they can grow.
• Identify gaps on the team and demonstrate best practices to improve process and efficiency.

Qualifications

• Senior Level: At least 7 years of game design experience on a video game development team.
• Expertise in designing meta systems and content for a live operations game.
• Experience becoming proficient in multiple proprietary development tools.
• Experience implementing features in a proprietary game engine, Unity, or Unreal.
• Experience using a variety of scripting solutions to implement, tune, and bug-fix features. Have implemented designs in past games using scripts, XLM/JSON, blueprints, or in an editor.
• Design and implementation experience with game features that focus on open-ended player creativity.
• Interest in pushing boundaries and telling inclusive human stories through systems and thematic storytelling
• Experience writing detailed design documentation throughout a project life cycle.
• Effective at working both autonomously and in groups of different profiles.
• Knowledge of and enthusiasm for gaming: playing, deconstructing, and creating.
• Experience with games in The Sims PC franchise and other simulation games.
• Comfortable with long timelines within a live operations environment.

Desirable Skills

• Technical Design, scripting or engineering background.
• Worked on a AAA HD title.
• Worked on a large team.
• Lead and mentored a small team of Designers.
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent.
• Comfortable with Google Drive: Docs, Sheets, and Slides; Miro, Visio, JIRA, Perforce or Git, and online collaboration suites such as Confluence and Slack.

Visit us at: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/maxis

"US COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The base salary ranges listed below are for the defined geographic market pay zones in these states. If you reside outside of these locations, a recruiter will advise on the base salary range and benefits for your specific location.

EA has listed the base salary ranges it in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in the locations listed, as of the time of this posting. Salary offered will be determined based on numerous relevant business and candidate factors including, for example, education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business or organizational needs.

BASE SALARY RANGES• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. Sacramento):

º $113,300 - $171,700• New York (depending on location e.g. Manhattan vs. Buffalo):

º $111,500 - $171,700• Jersey City, NJ:

º $126,700 - $171,700• Colorado (depending on location e.g. Denver vs. Colorado Springs):

º $111,500 - $144,000• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane):

º $111,500 - $157,300

Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at EA. We also offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity."

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Community / Marketing Title: Senior Game Designer (Live Ops) - The Sims

Company Profile:

We are a global team of creators, storytellers, technologists, experience originators, innovators and so much more. We believe amazing games and experiences start with teams as diverse as the players and communities we serve. At Electronic Arts, the only limit is your imagination.

EEOText:

About Electronic Arts

Everything we do is designed to inspire the world to play. Through our cutting-edge games, innovative services, and powerful technologies, we bring worlds with infinite possibilities to millions of players and fans around the globe.

We're looking for collaborative and inclusive people with diverse perspectives who will enrich our culture and challenge us. We take a holistic approach with our benefits program, focusing on physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support our people through every chapter of life. We provide comprehensive benefit packages and support for a balanced life with paid time off and new parent leave, plus free games and so much more. Our goal is to provide a safe and respectful workplace that empowers you to thrive in both work and life.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.

Days Open: 26

Can this position be remote?: 1

EEO Employer Verbiage:

About Electronic Arts

Everything we do is designed to inspire the world to play. Through our cutting-edge games, innovative services, and powerful technologies, we bring worlds with infinite possibilities to millions of players and fans around the globe.

We're looking for collaborative and inclusive people with diverse perspectives who will enrich our culture and challenge us. We take a holistic approach with our benefits program, focusing on physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support our people through every chapter of life. We provide comprehensive benefit packages and support for a balanced life with paid time off and new parent leave, plus free games and so much more. Our goal is to provide a safe and respectful workplace that empowers you to thrive in both work and life.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.