Lead Game Designer

At Pixaera, we're a passionate team of builders who are dedicated to delivering solutions that empower people. Today, we're leveraging Ai and gamification to build a vertical platform that is centered around improving the safety readiness of frontline workers in any high risk industry. If you are a doer who thrives in a dynamic, mission-focused environment, join us! Who are we looking for?

We're looking for a Lead Game Designer to own and elevate the game design craft at Pixaera. You'll lead a small but growing team of designers while staying hands-on in Unreal Engine 5, turning real-world safety scenarios and learning objectives into engaging, effective gameplay.

You'll sit at the intersection of game design, learning design, and product strategy - defining how our simulations feel, how they teach, and how they scale across industries and platforms. What You'll Do:

• Lead the game design discipline: Provide direction, feedback, and mentorship to game designers. Set and uphold clear craft standards, and help shape Pixaera's design rituals (reviews, playtests, documentation).
• Translate vision & learning goals into gameplay: Work with Product, Learning Design, and Subject Matter Experts to turn product vision and safety objectives into concrete systems, scenarios, and interactions that are fun, readable, and tied to clear outcomes.
• Design hands-on in Unreal Engine 5: Prototype and build experiences using Blueprints and Sequencer; own moment-to-moment gameplay, flow, and pacing for key experiences across PC, VR, and web.
• Shape UX, pacing, and narrative flow: Ensure that story, stakes, and learning moments align; help define onboarding, challenge curves, and feedback loops so players understand what to do, why it matters, and how they're doing.
• Collaborate across disciplines: Partner with engineers, artists, and learning designers to ensure smooth pipelines, realistic scenarios, and performant builds. Contribute to improving our tools, workflows, and content creation processes.
• Design for learning impact: Align experiences to explicit learning objectives, assessments, and behavioral outcomes. Contribute to how we approach micro-learning, adaptive paths, and "in the flow of work" learning moments.
• Iterate using data and feedback: Join playtests, review player behaviour and product metrics, and use both qualitative and quantitative signals to refine clarity, engagement, and effectiveness.
• Own your planning and communication: Estimate and track your work and your team's work (Jira/Confluence or similar), communicate trade-offs and risks early, and keep partners aligned on scope, priorities, and timelines.

• Senior/Lead-level game design experience, typically 6+ years, with ownership of major features or modes from concept through launch and iteration.
• Strong Unreal Engine experience (ideally UE5), including building and iterating interactive experiences using Blueprints and Sequencer.
• Deep understanding of core design principles: pacing, readability, feedback loops, onboarding, difficulty tuning, and player motivation.
• Demonstrated ability to guide or mentor other designers and contribute to craft standards, even if you haven't formally held a "Lead" title before.
• Comfort working with Subject Matter Experts and translating complex real-world workflows (e.g., safety procedures, operations) into accessible interactive experiences.
• Interest or experience in learning / instructional design (serious games, simulations, training products) and a willingness to work closely with Learning Designers on objectives, scaffolding, and assessment.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to work effectively with Product, Engineering, Art, and external partners.
• Organized, reliable, and comfortable operating in a fast-moving, iterative environment, with good habits around documentation and tooling (e.g., Jira, Linear, Notion, Google suite tools).
• Bonus: experience with localisation workflows, VR builds, or AI-assisted authoring and content pipelines.

How do we support and benefit our employees?

• Fully remote set-up, with 2× company-wide meetups per year to meet and bond with your colleagues.
• All the equipment you need to succeed provided by Pixaera.
• 25 days of company vacation allowance per year in addition to local public holidays. If there is a public holiday that you would rather work, let us know and you can swap it for another day in lieu.
• Competitive stock options.

At Pixaera, we're committed to building a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported, and empowered to thrive. We believe that diverse perspectives fuel creativity and innovation, which is why we celebrate individuality and foster an environment of inclusion and belonging.

We're proud to be an equal opportunity employer - discrimination of any kind has no place here. No matter your background, identity, or lived experience, you're welcome at Pixaera. #J-18808-Ljbffr