Lead Narrative Designer
Electronic Arts
- Location
- Hybrid (Guildford, England)
- Employment
- Full-time
- Level
- Senior Level
About the role
Electronic Arts is seeking a Lead Narrative Designer to join the Battlefield team at Criterion Games. This role involves defining the narrative vision, leading a team, and implementing dialogue and narrative systems to create an immersive player experience.
Skills
Benefits
- Healthcare
- Mental well-being
- Retirement savings
- Paid time off
- Family leaves
Perks
- Hybrid Work
- Complimentary games
Full job details
Description & Requirements
Battlefield is a storied franchise renowned for uncompromising combat gameplay and all-out warfare, for over two decades. 100 million players and 5 billion hours played later, Battlefield Studios is defining the future of the first-person shooter with the biggest launch in franchise history with Battlefield 6, and a new era beginning with Battlefield REDSEC.
United under the banner of Battlefield Studios, 4 world-class teams across Criterion, DICE, Motive, and Ripple Effect have come together to focus on the future of the franchise, a connected Battlefield universe filled with immersive experiences built on our unique DNA.
Criterion
At Criterion Games we cherish our rich, award-winning, history of crafting quality games with joy and passion. You’ll find us playing, creating, breathing, and talking games. As we look to the future, we're excited to continue innovating and being part of building the future of Battlefield.
We believe that healthy and engaged teams are the key to building great games, so we place enormous value on collaboration, fresh ideas, and diverse perspectives. Criterion is a place where you can unleash your creativity and be part of something extraordinary. Your unique input is welcome here!
We’re all-in on the future and our most ambitious Battlefield yet. Want to be part of something special? Read on.
This is a temporary full-time position for 14 months to cover parental leave.
Role Overview
We are seeking an experienced Lead Narrative Designer to join the Battlefield team on a fixed-term basis to provide maternity leave cover. In this role, you will partner closely with cross-discipline teams to drive the implementation and delivery of narrative content, ensuring a cohesive, immersive player experience that aligns with Battlefield’s tone, lore, and gameplay pillars.
Key Responsibilities
Narrative Leadership
Define, champion, and uphold the narrative vision, tone, and storytelling goals across the game. Lead and mentor a small team of narrative designers, providing clear direction, feedback, and support to maintain consistency and high-quality standards across all narrative content.
Narrative Systems Design
Design, prototype, and iterate on narrative systems, including dialogue frameworks, branching logic, environmental storytelling, in-world messaging, and interactive narrative moments. Ensure seamless integration of narrative with gameplay systems, UI, and player progression.
Dialogue Implementation
Own the end-to-end implementation of dialogue content within the game engine. This includes structuring conversations, setting up branching flows and conditions, integrating VO assets, and implementing triggers, volumes, and state-driven logic. Collaborate with audio and cinematic teams to ensure performances are correctly hooked up, timed, and contextually responsive to gameplay. Maintain clarity, scalability, and performance of dialogue systems across single-player and multiplayer contexts where applicable.
Cross-Discipline Collaboration
Work closely with level design, gameplay, art, audio, and cinematic teams to embed narrative meaningfully into all aspects of the player experience. Advocate for narrative needs during development and ensure storytelling opportunities are maximised without compromising gameplay.
Documentation & Communication
Create and maintain clear, detailed narrative documentation, including system designs, implementation workflows, VO pipelines, and Confluence pages. Communicate narrative intent effectively across disciplines to ensure alignment and efficient execution.
Iteration & Feedback
Continuously refine narrative content based on playtests, team feedback, and production needs. Conduct regular reviews to ensure narrative cohesion, pacing, and emotional impact throughout development milestones.
Planning & Delivery
Manage narrative priorities and workload, ensuring timely delivery of assets in line with project milestones. Identify risks, dependencies, and opportunities, and communicate progress clearly to project leadership.
Experience & Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in Narrative Design, with at least 1–2 shipped AAA titles in a Senior or Lead capacity (FPS/action experience preferred)
- Strong understanding of interactive storytelling, narrative structure, and character development
- Hands-on experience implementing narrative content in game engines (e.g. Unreal, Unity, Frostbite)
- Familiarity with production tools and pipelines (e.g. Jira, Confluence, Perforce)
- Experience designing and implementing branching dialogue and narrative systems
- Proven leadership and mentorship skills, with the ability to guide and develop others
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, iterative environment
- Passion for military action storytelling and familiarity with the Battlefield franchise