{"id":73774,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sony-interactive-entertainment-design-director","title":"Design Director","company":{"id":51674,"name":"Sony Interactive Entertainment","domain":"sonyinteractive.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/sony-interactive-entertainment","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":86,"open_postings":37,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.568,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":54,"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"}},"role":"Design","role_family":"Design","seniority":"head","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Montreal, Canada"],"countries":["CA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":97000,"max_usd":202000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":12},"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Unreal Engine","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-19T21:12:42Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-10","last_verified_at":"2026-10-24T09:03:30Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":126,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":126},"description":"Why Sony Interactive Entertainment?\nSony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play - it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting-edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.\nENGLISH FOLLOWS:\nPoste : Directeur.trice de la conception de jeu (Design Director)\nAperçu du rôle\nNous sommes à la recherche d’un.e Directeur.trice de la conception de jeu expérimenté.e pour se joindre à l’équipe Haven. Le ou la Directeur.trice de la conception de jeu prendra les piliers fondamentaux définis par la direction créative et les traduira en boucles systémiques équilibrées, évolutives et engageantes.\nLe ou la titulaire du poste sera responsable de l’architecture structurelle du jeu, en veillant à ce que la fantaisie de jeu, le contexte narratif et les piliers créatifs se traduisent harmonieusement dans l’expérience de jeu au quotidien, les boucles à court terme et les systèmes de progression à long terme. Il ou elle assurera également le recrutement, la direction et l’organisation d’une équipe de conception, tout en accompagnant les concepteur.trice.s afin de garantir l’exécution de la vision du jeu selon les standards AAA.\nRattachement hiérarchique : Le ou la Directeur.trice de la conception de jeu relèvera directement du ou de la Directeur.trice créatif.ve du projet.\n\nResponsabilités principales\n1. Direction de la conception et articulation de la vision\nTraduire la vision Collaborer étroitement avec le ou la Directeur.trice créatif.ve afin de déconstruire des thèmes créatifs abstraits et de les transformer en piliers de jouabilité et en structures métajeu clairs, cohérents et bien définis.\n\nAligner la fantaisie de jeu et la narration Élaborer une vision globale de la jouabilité qui intègre directement la fantaisie thématique et le contexte narratif du jeu dans un ensemble cohérent de mécaniques de jeu.\n\nArchitecture systémique Adopter une approche à la fois innovante et analytique pour concevoir une expérience de jeu robuste, comprenant des mécaniques engageantes à court terme ainsi que des boucles de rétention à long terme parfaitement adaptées à l’orientation du jeu.\n\nÉtablir des balises créatives Définir une orientation claire, des intentions précises et un cadre structurel pour l’équipe de conception, afin de lui fournir un environnement propice à l’innovation et à l’expression créative.\n\nRévision et validation de la conception Établir des standards de qualité élevés; réviser et valider l’ensemble du travail de conception produit par l’équipe afin d’assurer la solidité des mécaniques, leur équilibre ainsi que leur alignement avec la vision fondamentale du jeu.\n\n2. Gestion d’équipe et collaboration au sein du studio\nDiriger et accompagner Encadrer une équipe de concepteur.trice.s de jeux, du niveau junior au niveau senior, en réalisant des rencontres individuelles régulières, en fournissant une rétroaction concrète et en soutenant activement leur développement professionnel.\n\nFavoriser l’excellence en conception Maintenir un environnement de conception structuré et collaboratif qui valorise la communication claire, l’analyse objective et la rétroaction constructive. \n\nAlignement interdisciplinaire Agir à titre de représentant.e principal.e de la conception auprès des équipes d’ingénierie, d’interface et expérience utilisateur (UI/UX), d’audio et d’opérations en direct, afin d’assurer une compréhension commune de la vision et des intentions de conception entre les disciplines.\n\nQualifications et compétences\nExpérience requise\nExpérience reconnue en développement AAA Minimum de 6 années d’expérience en conception de jeux vidéo, incluant la participation à au moins un titre multijoueur AAA majeur lancé commercialement dans un rôle senior, principal ou de direction.\n\nExpérience en préproduction et sur l’ensemble du cycle de vie d’un produit Expérience démontrée dans la définition des boucles fondamentales de jeu dès les premières phases de conception et dans la préparation de systèmes complexes destinés à soutenir la stabilité d’un jeu-service.\n\nGestion de personnel Minimum de 2 années d’expérience directe en gestion, mentorat et développement de concepteur.trice.s de jeux.\n\nCompétences techniques et comportementales\nEsprit innovant et analytique Combinaison unique de créativité, de pensée novatrice et de rigueur analytique permettant d’imaginer des idées originales et de les traduire en règles logiques et mesurables.\n\nCommunication de la vision Excellentes aptitudes de communication orale et écrite; capacité démontrée à présenter, défendre et promouvoir des concepts de conception de façon claire auprès des équipes de développement comme de la direction du studio.\n\nMaîtrise des jeux multijoueurs et des jeux-services Solide expérience des contraintes architecturales propres aux jeux multijoueurs, notamment les systèmes d’appariement, les structures de listes de lecture, les considérations liées à la lutte contre la triche ainsi que l’équilibrage de la progression dans un contexte de jeu-service. Cette expertise doit être applicable à divers types d’expériences multijoueurs, au-delà des cadres traditionnels joueur contre joueur.\n\nAisance avec le prototypage précoce Capacité à utiliser un éditeur de jeu de façon légère afin de valider rapidement des concepts et de créer des prototypeslors des premières phases de conception.\n\nQualifications souhaitées\nConnaissance pratique d’Unreal Engine.\n\nForte passion pour l’innovation en matière de jouabilité ainsi qu’une excellente compréhension des tendances émergentes du marché mondial du jeu vidéo.\n\nPosition: Design Director\nRole Overview\nWe are looking for an experienced Design Director to join the Haven team. The Design Director will take the core pillars from the Creative Director and articulate them into balanced, scalable, and engaging systemic loops.\nYou will own the structural blueprint of the game-ensuring that the player fantasy, narrative context and creative pillars translate beautifully into moment-to-moment gameplay, short-term loops, and long-term progression tracks. Additionally, you will hire, lead and organize a design team, mentoring designers to ensure the game vision and direction is executed at a AAA standard. \nReporting: The Design Director will report directly to the Creative Director for the project.\n\nKey Responsibilities\n1. Design Direction & Vision Articulation\nTranslate the Vision: Partner closely with the Creative Director to deconstruct abstract creative themes into clear, rationalized gameplay pillars and meta-structures.\n\nAlign Fantasy & Narrative: Construct a comprehensive gameplay vision that weaves the game’s thematic fantasy and narrative context directly into cohesive mechanical elements.\n\nSystemic Architecture: Apply an innovative yet analytical approach to build robust moment-to-moment gameplay, short-term hooks, and long-term retention loops that perfectly suit the game's direction.\n\nEstablish Creative Constraints: Define clear direction, intent, and structural boundaries for the design team, giving them a focused framework to maximize their creative freedom and innovation.\n\nDesign Review & Validation: Establish high quality bars; review and validate all design work produced by the team to ensure mechanic solidity, balance, and alignment with the core vision.\n\n2. Team Management & Studio Collaboration\nManage & Mentor: Direct a team of game designers (Junior to Senior), conducting regular 1-on-1s, providing actionable performance feedback, and actively supporting their professional growth.\n\nCultivate Design Standards: Maintain a structured, collaborative design environment that champions clear communication, objective analysis, and constructive criticism.\n\nCross-Discipline Alignment: Act as the primary design ambassador for Engineering, UI/UX, Audio, and Live Operations, ensuring cross-functional clarity regarding design intent and vision.\n\nQualifications & Skills\nExperience Required\nAAA Track Record: Minimum of 6+ years of experience in game design, with at least one shipped major AAA multiplayer title in a Senior, Lead, or Principal role.\n\nPre-Production & Lifecycle Experience: Proven experience defining core loops during early conception and preparing complex systems for live-service stability.\n\nPeople Management: Minimum of 2+ years of direct experience managing, mentoring, and developing game designers.\n\nTechnical & Soft Skills\nInnovative & Analytical Thinker: A unique blend of out-of-the-box creative thinking and sharp analytical skills, capable of inventing fresh ideas and grounding them into logical, quantitative rules.\n\nVision Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; an expert ability to articulate, argument, and pitch design concepts clearly to both the development team and studio leadership.\n\nLive-Service & Multiplayer Literacy: Deep experience navigating multiplayer architectural constraints, including matchmaking logic, playlist structures, anti-cheat considerations, and progression balancing within a live-service context (broadly applicable beyond traditional PvP frameworks).\n\nEarly Prototyping Comfort: Ability to work lightly within a game editor to quickly validate and prototype design ideas during early conception phases.\n\nPreferred Qualifications\nWorking knowledge of Unreal Engine.\n\nA strong passion for gameplay innovation and a keen understanding of evolving trends in the global gaming market.\n\nPlease note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.\nPlease refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.\nEqual Opportunity Statement:\nSony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.\nWe strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond. \nSony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.","description_format":"text","description_chars":11113,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":6,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Gaming","Media & Entertainment","PC Games","Game Development"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-06-19T21:12:42Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":15,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.539,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":126,"expected_fill_days":54,"reasons":["conf:1","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/sony-interactive-entertainment-design-director","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/sony-interactive-entertainment-design-director.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-24T12:24:16Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":17767,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-25T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":51674},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=51674"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fsony-interactive-entertainment-design-director"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fsony-interactive-entertainment-design-director"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fsony-interactive-entertainment-design-director"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/sony-interactive-entertainment-design-director\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsony-interactive-entertainment-design-director"}]}