About the role
Company Overview
Next Level Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd. With 20 years of experience, the studio has shipped titles including Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged, Punch-Out!!, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Metroid Prime Federation Force, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and Mario Strikers: Battle League. The studio prioritizes collaboration and an inclusive environment.
Responsibilities
- Design well-engineered solutions to creative problems and persuade team members of the value and strategic plan of those solutions.
- Mentor technical designers, teach team members, and document processes as durable tools for training and knowledge sharing.
- Publicize documented processes within the company.
- Assist Production in planning own and others’ work.
- Assess risk and improve the team’s ability to predict and manage it.
- Work with Leads and Directors to maintain alignment with high-level goals and future plans.
- Act as a bridge between engineering and design teams, proposing solutions for level-specific features and providing support.
- Establish and maintain a level creation pipeline.
- Design and promote shared tech solutions between gameplay and level design departments.
- Promote and maintain technical standards within performance budget constraints.
- Liaise as a technical expert with supporting departments and the publisher.
- Test new features and tools, and provide feedback for improvements.
- Establish best practices and workflows for designers.
Qualifications
- 6+ years of industry experience.
- Experience with 1+ shipped games through a full development cycle, from prototype through gold master and postproduction.
- Organized and self-motivated with strong communication and negotiation skills.
- Ability to think about long-term implications of tools and feature changes.
- Excellent problem-solving and leadership skills, including experience in mentoring.
- Ability to partner with Production to manage schedules.
- Understanding of Unity or Unreal Engine.
- Experience in text-based scripting and working with animation state machines.
- Knowledge of C / C++, C# / .NET.
- Bonus: Experience with Houdini and Substance Designer.
- Must already possess work eligibility in Canada.
Benefits and Perks
- Competitive benefits and annual leave.
- Discretionary performance bonus program.
- Health coverage.
- Employee Assistance Program (mental health, financial well-being, legal assistance).
- In-studio gym.
- Extensive media library (games and books).
- Interest-based committees (board games, sports, etc.).
- Discounted shopping for Nintendo products and merchandise.
- Opportunities for continuous growth.
Work Environment and Conditions
- Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada.
- Employment Type: Temporary.
- Position Type: Hybrid (requires at least three days per week at the Vancouver studio).
- Compensation: $89,000 to $112,000 CAD annually (subject to change based on skills, education, and experience).
- Accommodations: Available upon request via careers@nextlevelgames.com.