Your Mission

At Blizzard, we craft genre defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations – only made possible by building a work environment that nurtures the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people.

We are seeking a highly creative and experienced Lead Game Designer to spearhead gameplay and content innovations for an upcoming AAA open-world shooter. In this role, you will collaborate closely with engineering, art, narrative, and production teams to deliver groundbreaking player experiences that push and explore the boundaries of features within the game.

You stay current with emerging trends across both indie and AAA development and are energized by pushing into unexplored creative territory. You embrace innovation at the edge of what’s possible balanced with a pragmatic leadership mindset that turns ambitious ideas into experiences players can truly enjoy.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work onsite and some work from home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities

Priorities can often change in a fast‑paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

• Support and execute the strategic direction for key feature innovations, partnering with discipline leaders.
• Utilize your own technical implementation skills and game design expertise to bring your ideas to life.
• Identify, evaluate, and prioritize innovation opportunities based on industry trends, player needs, and project goals.
• Lead cross‑disciplinary teams to guide innovative features from early concept through production delivery.
• Serve as a people leader, mentoring, coaching, and developing designers while fostering a culture of creative excellence and accountability.
• Balance creative ambition with production realities, helping teams scope, iterate, and deliver high‑impact experiences.
• Communicate vision clearly through strong documentation, presentations, and cross‑team alignment.

Experience

• 15 years of professional experience in game design or a related discipline.
• 4+ years of experience leading, mentoring, and growing design teams in a leadership capacity.
• Extensive experience working on shipped AAA combat focused titles.
• Proven experience leading cross‑disciplinary feature development from concept through implementation.
• Proven experience working with the Unreal engine and using Blueprint to create prototypes / game content.

Knowledge and Skills

• Deep expertise in game‑design fundamentals, systems thinking, and player‑centric innovation.
• Skill with hands-on development of features and systems, including independently prototyping content and tuning systems.
• Strong ability to translate abstract ideas into clear, actionable designs that teams can execute against.
• Experience shaping and evangelizing design vision across large, multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to target communications to the audience, whether that is junior designers, cross-disciplinary teams, or project leadership.

Key Attributes

• A visionary yet pragmatic mindset that balances experimentation with execution.
• A collaborative leadership style that seeks other’s perspectives and drives toward solid decisions.
• Strong sense of ownership, comfortable with accountability for both creative quality and delivery.
• Passion for innovation that meaningfully enhances player experience.

Extra Points

• Strong interest in how emerging technology can unlock new workflows and efficient development practices.
• Well‑developed documentation practices used to align, inspire, and guide teams, including developing templates and setting the standard for team documentation.
• Broad and active engagement with a wide variety of game genres and platforms.

Our Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The video game industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!  Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.  You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $116,800.00 - $216,000.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.