# Lead Open World Designer - Company: [Absurdventures]() - Location: Santa Monica - Team: Game Development - Salary: $150K – $175K - Posted: July 31, 2026 ## Job description **Summary**   As the Lead Open World Designer, you will be the primary vision holder for the open world, its systems, and content. You will lead a multi-disciplinary team to deliver a best-in-class open-world experience rich with characters, encounters, side missions, puzzles, secrets, discoverables, collectables, and more.   **Core Responsibilities**   * Drive the design and implementation of engaging, immersive, interactive open-world content that encourages exploration and emphasizes a mix of fun, varied gameplay, worldbuilding and storytelling. * Work closely with the narrative team to develop ideas for new content. * Develop and execute the design vision and strategy, ensuring that open-world content aligns with the game's overall narrative, thematic, and player experience goals. * Leverage the game's core systems and mechanics to create dynamic and unpredictable open-world experiences that adapt to player choices and actions. * Continuously seek opportunities to innovate, challenge conventions, and push the boundaries of open-world design. * Rally designers, engineers, animators, artists, and external co-dev partners to deliver playable progress at regular intervals as part of a rapid iterative process. * Incorporate feedback from peers, playtests, and senior leadership to refine and pivot as the game demands. * Go beyond documentation and management to lead from the trenches, with hands-on contributions to the playable experience. * Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation and iteration. **Core Qualifications**   * 5 or more years of experience in open-world design. * Prior experience as a Lead Designer. * Knack and passion for blurring the lines between AI, systems, mechanics and scripted content to create deep, layered worlds in which stories can unfold organically through exploration and gameplay. * Strong understanding of population and encounter design and open-world content balancing. * Excellent communication, interpersonal and leadership skills. * Innovative thinker with creative problem-solving skills who thrives in a collaborative team environment. **Plus If...**  * Experience leading multidisciplinary teams * Experience in UE4 or UE5 * Experience working with co-development partners **Description**    * Full time job with benefits * Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA * Office is located near downtown Santa Monica – near metro and freeways. The base pay range for this position is $150,000 to $175,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) matching to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity. ## Apply [Apply on Absurdventures]() Canonical job page: