Junior Game Designer

About the role:

Permanent full-time role (4-day work week, 32 hours), hybrid working options (office located in Wellington), starting at $61,000 NZD depending on experience. International applicants are welcome to apply, but must keep in mind the visa requirements for immigration.

We’re Dinosaur Polo Club, an award-winning video game studio of thirty lovely people making games in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.  It’s been an exciting few years for us with our games, Mini Motorways and Mini Metro, which continue to be big successes!

Building on our successes, we’re looking for an enthusiastic Junior Designer who has either game design experience with a strong understanding of UX design, or a background in UX with a keen interest in game development to help us continue expanding our Mini franchise.

As a Junior Designer, you’ll apply your skills to create user-centered features and exciting content for our well-established projects. This role is highly collaborative, working closely with programmers, artists, producers, and fellow designers across the entire game development process. You’ll be involved in user research, concept creation, testing, iteration, and delivering design solutions that resonate with our audience.

What you'll do in this role:

• Design game features, levels and content, with guidance from senior designers.
• Create concepts, prototypes, user flows, and refine gameplay based on user insights.
• Contribute to playtesting and user research to gather actionable feedback.
• Maintain and update design documentation, including feature specs and implementation guidelines.
• Help ensure the game is accessible and inclusive for a diverse audience.
• Participate in design reviews, offering and responding to feedback from your team.
• Collaborate across departments to ensure the successful implementation of design solutions.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of design practice within the design department
• Engage in team discussions to ensure the studio’s long-term success

The skills and experience we're looking for:

• Solid understanding of game design principles, UX methodologies, and user research practices.
• Demonstrated experience in concept generation, wireframing, and visualising user journeys within games.
• Familiarity with playtesting methodologies and ability to interpret player insights.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Excellent collaboration skills for working with interdisciplinary teams
• Good understanding of accessibility principles in game and UX design.
• Eagerness to learn and develop in both game design and UX practices.
• Ability to follow established processes and document design work clearly and effectively.
• Familiarity with prototyping tools (e.g., Unity) and UX design tools (e.g., Figma, Adobe XD) is a plus, but not required.
• UI design knowledge is beneficial but not required.

About us:

At Dinosaur Polo Club we value a healthy work-life balance where our dinos can flourish both inside and outside of the studio. We have a creative team, opportunities for growth, and a wholesome, supportive studio environment.

We value diversity and believe that our team should be as varied and wonderful as the people who play our games all around the world. Differences such as disabilities, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity and any other aspects of various cultures and identities are important perspectives that contribute to an inclusive, well-rounded, and engaging work environment. We know we’re creating better games when we have varied perspectives and experiences contributing to them. Women, LGBTQ+ community, Māori and Pasifika  – we want to hear from you!

If there is anything we can do to allow for easier participation in the interview process, please let us know at careers@dinopoloclub.com.

What we can offer:

• A lovely bunch of skilled and enthusiastic team members for you to work alongside.
• Generous training allowance for things such as conferences, workshops, courses and self-directed learning.
• Dedicated training days.
• Support structure including regular one-on-ones, feedback processes, and goal setting.
• Team events such as regular social activities, quarterly pot-luck lunches, movie nights at the studio, holiday functions and more.
• Healthy snacks, yummy treats and close proximity to some of Wellington’s best eateries! Plus an impressive array of locally made tea and coffee.
• Quarterly personal discretionary wellness allowance.
• Quarterly bonuses based on studio performance.
• Monthly workplace massages.
• Flexible workplace with core hours and optional work-from-home days.

Keen to apply?

If you believe you fulfil most of the requirements and this strikes you as an exciting opportunity, we encourage you to apply.

Click the button below and submit a CV, a cover letter and a portfolio outlining why you feel this would be the role for you. Portfolio is mandatory when you apply. This position is permanent, full-time and on-site in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand so you’ll either be living in Wellington or be willing to relocate. Relocation packages are available. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Closing date:

November 11, 2024