Lead Level Designer

Are you an experienced Lead Level Designer who loves shaping open worlds and building strong teams in early production?

We’re hiring a Lead Level Designer to define how players move through, explore, and share a large-scale MMO-style world - from macro zone structure and progression down to the flow of individual hubs, gathering spaces, and points of interest.

This is a senior, hands‑on leadership role for someone who can set creative direction, stay close to the work through blockouts and prototypes, and grow a level design team through production.

You’ll report into the Game Director and lead a growing team of level designers (currently 3, scaling to ~7). The project is in early production, meaning much of the world structure and level design pipeline is still maturing.

This role is ideal for a level design leader who enjoys building standards, defining processes, and making foundational design decisions that will support a multi‑year live‑service roadmap.

People leadership and team development

• Manage and mentor a level design team as it scales through production
• Set priorities, assign work, balance workload, and run regular 1:1s
• Lead performance reviews and goal setting aligned to milestones and development plans
• Identify skill gaps and support growth through coaching, stretch assignments, and training
• Represent level design in cross‑discipline leads meetings, production planning, and resourcing
• Help shape hiring: contribute to job specs, review portfolios, and join interview loops
• Foster a culture of creative safety, ownership, and constructive critique

• Own the creative vision for world layout, zones, hubs, and points of interest
• Set the bar for spatial composition, navigation flow, vertical gameplay, and environmental storytelling
• Design spaces that support exploration, combat, questing, and social interaction
• Build hubs and gathering spaces that feel alive at different population levels
• Stay hands‑on with blockouts and prototypes in Unreal Engine
• Collaborate with quest and narrative teams to integrate authored content, emergent encounters, and social spaces
• Design for MMO realities: player density, zone streaming, loading boundaries, spawn flow, and performance targets
• Ensure the world structure supports long‑term expansion, seasonal events, and live‑service updates

• Build and mature the level design pipeline from blockout through final handoff
• Define best practices, handoff specs, and quality criteria where needed
• Partner with production on scoping, schedules, sprint planning, and capacity forecasting
• Use playtests and player behaviour insights to iterate on pacing, navigation, encounter density, and readability

• 7+ years in game development, including at least one shipped title in level design or world building
• 3+ years of direct people management experience (1:1s, performance reviews, coaching, goal setting)
• 2+ years designing for MMOs, persistent online worlds, or live‑service games
• Strong portfolio showing 3D level design, player flow, spatial composition, and verticality
• Proficiency with Unreal Engine (or comparable tools) for blockout and in‑engine world construction
• Strong cross‑discipline collaboration skills (environment art, narrative, quest design, technical art)
• Excellent communication and documentation habits, especially in remote environments

• Experience shipping an MMO or persistent online world through launch and live operations
• Open‑world single‑player or co‑op level design experience
• Scripting or visual scripting experience for gameplay prototyping and triggers
• Awareness of accessibility considerations in spatial design

• You’ll shape the foundations of a new MMO‑style world in early production
• High ownership and real creative influence across the full open‑world experience
• Remote‑first culture with autonomy and trust
• A chance to build and lead a team that will define the game’s world for years

If you’re a level design leader who enjoys building worlds, mentoring designers, and shaping the standards that define a project long‑term, we’d love to hear from you.
Apply now, or email Jack Baxter -