Design Lead (12-month Contract)

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Blackbird Interactive is looking for a Design Lead to guide a team of designers in a sci-fi universe, shaping systems, content, and moment-to-moment gameplay that support exploration and player agency. This role blends hands-on design with people leadership, requiring you to translate creative vision into clear goals, mentor designers, and own quality across features while partnering with engineering, art and audio. It is a 12-month contract, onsite in Vancouver with permanent options for in-studio, remote within Canada, and hybrid work, and the studio has adopted a four-day work week. To apply, highlight 10+ years in game design, a shipped title, proven leadership impact, and in-engine prototyping across disciplines.

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Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.
In 2022, we announced that our studio is implementing a four-day work week as well as supporting in-studio, remote within Canada, and hybrid work arrangements as permanent options to our employees.
Blackbird Interactive is looking for an experienced Design Lead to help shape and deliver high-quality gameplay experiences within an established science fiction universe. This role focuses on guiding a team of designers as they build compelling systems, content, and moment-to-moment gameplay that support exploration, player agency, and long-term engagement.
You’ll work closely with design leadership, production, art, and engineering to translate creative vision into clear design goals, while mentoring and supporting a team of designers through implementation, iteration, and polish. This role blends hands-on design sensibility with people leadership, owning quality, consistency, and cohesion across features while helping designers grow their craft. If you enjoy leading teams, solving complex design problems, and bringing ambitious sci-fi worlds to life through play, this role could be a great fit!

Responsibilities

• Work closely with project leadership and our publishing partner to understand, reinforce, and help execute the established creative vision across gameplay systems and features.
• Lead and support a team of designers in the implementation, tuning, balancing, and polish of gameplay features, with a focus on delivering a cohesive, high-quality player experience.
• Provide clear guidance, feedback, and mentorship to designers, helping them translate high-level direction into effective, shippable designs while supporting professional growth.
• Collaborate closely with engineering to implement gameplay systems and tools that support design goals, scalability, and efficient iteration.
• Partner with art and audio teams to ensure gameplay systems are readable, expressive, and aligned with the intended player experience, reinforcing design intent through presentation.
• Communicate design goals, constraints, and priorities clearly across disciplines, ensuring teams remain aligned as features evolveIdentify execution risks, design gaps, or dependency issues early, working with production to adjust scope, sequencing, or implementation plans as needed.
• Contribute hands-on to the implementation of gameplay content and systems as needed, helping unblock the team, prototype solutions, or carry features through critical phases of development

Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience contributing to game development, including at least 5 in a design leadership or senior design role supporting team execution.
• Experience shipping at least one large-scale game, ideally with action-oriented or systems-driven gameplay.
• Strong understanding of core gameplay execution, including player controls, camera behavior, combat or interaction systems, and moment-to-moment game feel.
• Demonstrated ability to support, mentor, and review the work of other designers, improving consistency and quality across a team.
• Comfort operating in a technical, fast-moving production environment, balancing quality, scope, and schedule.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across design, engineering, art, audio, and production.
• Ability and willingness to implement gameplay content directly, using in-engine tools and workflows to prototype, iterate, and polish features alongside the team.

Pluses

• Interest in science fiction games and worlds, particularly those emphasizing exploration, scale, and systemic gameplay.
• A strong instinct for player-centric execution, including clarity, responsiveness, and usability.
• Passion for delivering polished, high-quality gameplay systems that hold up over long play sessions.
• Appreciation for how design intent, systems, and presentation come together in shipped content.
• Enjoyment of collaborative problem-solving and helping teams iterate toward better outcomes.