Senior Dialogue Designer

This position is for temporary engagement through our staffing partner DZConneX. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States for this position.

Ability to work hybrid from our Santa Monica, CA based studio is required.

For 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of interactive storytelling, gameplay, and technology. Naughty Dog recently released The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II Remastered for the PS5. We're also proud to say that both games are now available for the first time on PC. We’re currently busy at the kennel working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and we'd love to find talented individuals to join us.

Naughty Dog games have long been lauded for their evocative, character-driven stories and attention to detail. We are committed to innovation within our games and as such have curated some of the top creative and technically innovative minds in the industry. We welcome diverse candidates and believe that a broad range of cultural and life experiences contribute to the overall well-being and success of the studio and the titles we craft together.

Is your passion crafting dialogue systems? Do you love working out the timing and aesthetics of story conversations in game engines? Are you always looking to find ways to make game dialogue sound more intelligent? Then you’ve come to the right place! Naughty Dog is offering an opportunity to join our Dialogue Team.

The ideal candidate possesses proven success in both creative and technical work, as well as a sharp sense of cinematic aesthetic, an attention to detail, and a compelling passion for narrative, storytelling, as well as systemic dialogue. We are looking for an individual who can balance giving ideas while maintaining aesthetic tone within the overall narrative design vision.

You possess a deep understanding of what it takes for a team to collaborate in making captivating narrative experiences, and you embody that on a day-to-day basis. Being a self-starter is crucial to our collaborations at Naughty Dog, so a strong and clear communication style is required. You will work closely with Dialogue Designers of all levels, as well as collaborate with fellow Dialogue Team members, writers, designers, animators, and programmers.

The Senior Dialogue Designer role is a part of the Dialogue Team, under the Audio Department. You will report directly to the Dialogue Lead and Audio Director for all tasks. As such, writing is not a part of the responsibility set for this role. We encourage you to check back for writing/narrative positions when available.

What you will do: 

• Coordinating and implementing dialogue for the following:
  • Gameplay/Story dialogue scenarios
  • In-game cinematics
  • NPC AI driven dialogue systems
  • Non-verbal vocal exertion tagging on animations  
• Creatively iterate on the design and polishing the gameplay experience by collaborating closely with writers, animators, designers, and programmers.
• General scripting support for the rest of the dialogue team such as creating script functions, debugging scripts, and prototyping gameplay.
• Work within a level editor to implement scripting regions, spawners, and other markup.
• Provide detailed feedback on writing for systemic dialogue cohesion, consistency, and character arc
• Be a growing expert on features that you own or share
• Assign and review the work of mid-and associate-level team members where appropriate

What skills you will use:

• 5+ years game audio experience with at least 1-2 shipped AAA credit(s)
• Detailed understanding of naturalistic dialogue timing, pacing, and flow
• Strong scripting skills and experience with languages such as Lua, Python, etc.
• Strong scripting skills (Python, Lua, etc).
• Enjoy being a teammate, exhibit an open and collaborative approach to their work.
• Excellent communication skills; Able to give and request assistance with problems and issues across the development team
• Strong problem-solving skills; Able to accurately assess issues and formulate creative solutions, whether design or technical
• Outstanding organization and documentation skills; Able to work with large amounts of assets, provide clear naming convention and detailed tracking
• Extraordinary team attitude and being receptive to changes and direction in this dynamic atmosphere

Bonus Skills:

• Demonstrable programming skills (C++, C#, etc.)
• Previous advanced experience with various forms of linear/interactive narrative media
• Experience with audio design/editing
• Knowledge of DAWs and/or digital audio theory

As a part of the Naughty Dog application process, candidates will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of their work and may be asked to complete a test.

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