Senior Technical Designer

About Sumo Digital, Nottingham

Since 2016, Sumo Nottingham has been known for crafting inclusive, innovative action and racing titles for console and PC. Bringing together industry veterans with the best new talent in the industry, the studio delivered Team Sonic Racing in 2019 and is now working on a diverse and exciting mix of new projects.

The studio’s vision is to create AAA games with innovation, character and accessibility at their very core – strengths that have seen them named as one of the ‘Best Places to Work’ in the Best Companies regional table for the East Midlands.

Day in the life of a Senior Technical Designer:

As a Senior Technical Designer, your day will be filled with a mixture of collaboration and innovation. You'll work closely with various disciplines—art, engineering, design, and production—to ensure the game vision is aligned across the board. Your input will be crucial in shaping technical workflows and production pipelines that drive the project forward. You will prototype new gameplay features, providing the design and technical teams with the guidance they need to bring these ideas to life. You'll also design, implement, and take ownership of various game systems, ensuring they meet both design goals and technical requirements.

Please note, you will need to be UK based for this role (onsite, hybrid or remote basis offered within the UK).

What you need to do this job:

• Strong experience in a Design/Engineering position with an emphasis on Technical Design.

• Shipped at least one commercial title on current gen consoles.

• Multiplayer experience would be a bonus.

• Experience in networking and Unreal Engine.

• Knowledge of visual scripting suites (Blueprints).

• Ability to analyse and deconstruct the work of others.

• Good knowledge of game and level design principles.

The Interview Process:

At Sumo Nottingham, we want a holistic and engaging interview process that allows us to get to know you, your skills and your potential. For the Senior Technical Designer role, we have a 3 stage interview process:

1st Stage: One hour with our Principle Technical Designer and Senior Technical Designer. Here we will talk with you about your experience and skills, our expectations in the role and ask some competency based questions. There will, of course, be opportunities for you to ask questions!

2nd Stage: One hour with our Lead Game Designer. This is a great chance for you to meet some more of the team here at Sumo Nottingham and will be more of a culture based interview.

3rd Stage: One hour with our Project Design Director. This will be your final interview and will be a great chance to ask any questions regarding the role, project and team. This interview will be a mixture of competency and culture!

What’s in it for you?

Sumo also offers a highly personable benefits package which has something for everyone, no matter where you are in your career.

Financial: Annual bonus, flexible benefits allowance, salary sacrifice pension, benefits hub, payroll giving, an employee referral scheme (up to £3,000), financial/home buying consultations, workplace ISA and other schemes for tech loans, car loan and bicycles.

Work-life Balance: Flexible working, 21 free choice days holiday (increasing to 22 with service), bank holidays, birthday day off, a duvet day (increasing to 4 with service), Christmas shutdown (Christmas Eve to New Year) and options to buy or sell up to a week of annual leave*.

Health and Wellbeing: Dental insurance, income protection, life assurance, BUPA private healthcare*, leading EAP programs (remote GP, mental health, physio, nutrition, lifestyle coaching and medical second opinions, critical illness cover*, health cash plan*, gym (paid membership) and funded flu vaccines/eye tests.

Personal Development: Structured Personal Development tool, regular appraisals, annual salary reviews, access to Udemy learning platform, 5 learning days per annum (1 can be used as a volunteer day), award-winning L&D team and yearly attendance to the Sumo Developers Conference (link to video).

Extra Perks: A variety of in-studio perks, regular care packages, studio days out (family welcome), studio-led social activities (game jams, yoga, quizzes, life drawing and more), sabbaticals (at 10 years service) and annual gaming subscription.

*Opt-in benefits (part of our flexible benefits options).

Inclusion and Belonging at Sumo Digital:

We are dedicated to growing a sustainable business that provides security to our people while delivering a first-class experience to our partners and players.

As a people business, the success of our people is the success of our company. We prioritise taking care of them with a focus on supporting them, nurturing their talent and providing a healthy, friendly, enriching, creative and safe environment in which to work.

Sumo's employee diversity group, PRISM, exists to promote diversity, inclusion, equity, equality & wellbeing across the company and plays a key role in Sumo's ongoing goal of fostering environments where all employees feel safe, welcome & represented.

Our charitable and community initiatives provide support for meaningful causes that matter to our employees, clients and partners.

We continue to work to improve diversity in our recruitment and promotion processes, and to actively encourage people from marginalised groups to consider a career in the games industry.