Director, Design

Responsible for shaping & driving the design vision and direction for the game being worked on and aligned with the overarching product and creative vision for the game. The Design Director is also responsible for conveying the design vision to Play Designers, UX Designers and Monetization Designers on the team and aid in coordinating their work. This is to ensure delivery of quality design and maximize the potential of the design team. The Design Director is responsible for the Design team, making sure designers are supported in their daily work, coach designers in their craft, and are occasionally expected to step in and do design tasks when the project needs it. The Design Director needs to keep a holistic and visionary view, and have the ability to look ahead at how the game or product might evolve in the future. In this they should be applying their deep knowledge and understanding of how players interact with the product, and champion the kids perspective.

The Design Director ensures that all design elements and features align with the overarching product vision and the creative vision and that the overall gaming experience meets the expectations of players.

• Design Direction & Narrative Development:

In line with the overall creative direction provided by the Creative Director, drive the Design Direction of the overall game experience and ensure that the narrative development of the game ties into the overall narrative direction of the Toca Boca brand and universe. As a member of the Product Leadership Team, provide creative ideas and design direction that can support the overarching longterm strategy and roadmap for the game from a player need perspective.

• Develop & communicate the overarching Design Vision for the game:

Convey Design Vision to designers and inspire. Facilitate regular design meetings to foster an open and collaborative design culture and enable the design team to fully understand the overall product vision for the game.

• Creative Leadership:

Lead and inspire a multidisciplinary team of Level Designers, UX Designers, Game Play Designers, Narrative Designers and Monetization Designers and potential other creative professionals. The Design Director ensures that the design vision is successfully executed throughout the development process and works closely with the Creative Director and Art Director to ensure that all design aspects of the project are in harmony with the overall creative vision.

• Directors & Leads:

Coordinate with other directors and leads on the team to identify issues and align on solutions and improvements. Facilitate transparent work and information flow.

• Player-Centric Focus:

Keep a strong focus on player experience, target audience emotional needs, trends and relevance and provide that feedback to the team throughout the development process. Iterate and refine design elements based on playtesting and player feedback.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration:

Collaborate with the Product Leadership Team (Tech Director, Lead Producer, Product Manager, Product Marketing Manager, Art Director, Creative Director) and other stakeholders to ensure the alignment of design priorities, deliveries and quality with technical feasibility and project timelines. Also work closely with Studio Creative Leaders to ensure that the design direction and play experience execution of brand activations are aligned with overarching goals for the Toca Boca Brand and Ecosystem.

• Innovation & Creativity:

Instill a culture of making sure we keep the kids/tweens perspective, always think about how a kid will perceive what we do and lead by example by staying up to date with kids' culture, trends and behaviors to understand the needs among our target group and how we meet them in a way that feels fun and inspiring. Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, curiosity, strive for high quality and passion for putting the kids' perspective first. You will lead by example and inspire others.

• Generating new game concepts

The ambition is to initiate new game projects in the upcoming years and the initial concept design work and prototyping is likely to be managed by this role.

Qualifications & Experience

In summary, skills and qualifications needed are a combination of creative expertise, leadership skills, communication skills, industry knowledge, and being in tune with kids.

• Several years of proven experience in design lead positions.
• Creative expertise - be able to think creatively, generate original ideas, and be able to critique and guide the work of your team members.
• Stakeholder management, understand how to present and articulate an idea or creative concept by tailoring it to different audiences and situations.
• Leadership and management skills- be able to delegate tasks, provide guidance and support, and foster a collaborative and innovative team culture.
• Strong communication skills and not being afraid of being assertive and defending a creative point of view.
• Creative Industry knowledge such as trends and best practices be able to apply them to your work.
• Team player who can collaborate across functions and lead together with others.
• Fluency in spoken and written English.

This is us

Play is in our DNA. At Toca Boca, we make playful, safe spaces where kids can have fun and feel free to be themselves. Over 60 million kids from all over the world play our games every month. Are you in? Let's play.

Good to know

This position is full time and based in our Stockholm studio with a hybrid working model (part office, part working from home). We apply a 6-month probationary period. You'll need to be located in Sweden as we are unable to support relocation. As we're an international company, with over 20 nationalities working here, and millions of users all over the world, you need to be fluent in English. Your application should therefore be in English