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 -