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The Narrative Design Director is responsible for the narrative direction of Halo, including campaign story structure, tone, character arcs, and narrative integration across gameplay. This role works closely with the Campaign Design Director, Franchise Creative Director, and cross-disciplinary teams to ensure the campaign delivers a clear, emotionally resonant, and cohesive story that supports the overall player experience. This role is responsible for establishing narrative direction early in development and ensuring narrative is integrated into gameplay, environments, missions, and player experience throughout production. The Narrative Design Director partners closely with design, art, audio, cinematics, and engineering teams to ensure narrative and gameplay work together to deliver a cohesive and memorable campaign experience.
Job Responsibility:
Establish the narrative direction for Halo, including story structure, tone, themes, and character arcs
Define how narrative is delivered through gameplay, missions, environments, and player experience, not just cinematics
Partner with Campaign Design, Cinematics, Audio, Art, and Level Design to integrate narrative into moment-to-moment gameplay
Provide clear direction and feedback to narrative designers and writers to ensure consistency of tone, character, and story
Ensure the campaign delivers a complete and emotionally satisfying story that is accessible to new players and meaningful to longtime fans
Work with Franchise Creative leadership to ensure Halo Next aligns with long-term franchise direction and canon
Collaborate with User Research and Insights teams to evaluate narrative clarity, pacing, and player understanding
Help define narrative pipelines, tools, and workflows that support narrative integration across the game
Be a cross-disciplinary leader who helps align teams around a cohesive narrative and player experience vision
Serve as a key creative leader on the project, helping teams make decisions that support the overall campaign experience
Requirements:
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Art, Writing, Behavioral Science, Data Science, Game Design, or related field AND 6+ years experience in game development and design, systems design, content production, or related field OR Associate's Degree in Computer Science, Art, Writing, Behavioral Science, Game Design, or related field AND 8+ years experience in game development and design, systems design, content production, or related field OR equivalent experience
Have shipped at least 2 title released to consumers/shipped game
5+ years people management experience
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements
Microsoft Cloud Background Check required upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter
Nice to have:
Bachelor’s degree AND 8+ years of experience in narrative or creative leadership roles
Shipped multiple AAA titles with significant narrative ownership
Experience shipping at least one high‑quality, narrative‑driven AAA game or major feature in a senior narrative role
Experience evolving a legacy franchise across multiple experiences
Ability to balance cinematic storytelling with gameplay‑driven narrative design
Deep cross‑discipline instincts across design, cinematics, animation, audio, and worldbuilding
Proven ability to set direction and drive alignment without direct authority
Demonstrated ability to lead narrative design at scale across large, cross‑disciplinary teams
Strong command of character‑driven storytelling within interactive systems
Background in epic, military, or mythic science fiction
Experience working within an established IP with an active fan community