Application End Date: End of January 2024

Start Date: August 2024

Duration: 12 months

Location: Birmingham, UK

Internship Type: Undergraduate student, studying sandwich degree that supports a placement year

At NaturalMotion, we make games that wow people. We innovate to create experiences that previously were impossible and that would not exist without us. We take pride in making titles that reach a large audience and in creating communities that last. For the past six years, NaturalMotion Studios has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the UK games industry by gamesindustry.biz.

Our Racing Studio - responsible for the CSR Racing franchise and the #1 Racing Game on Mobile CSR2 - is one of the most ambitious, successful, and creatively inclusive studios in the UK. Based across three locations – London, Birmingham and Bangalore - the team loves welcoming diverse, humble, straightforward and ambitious talent, aspiring for award-winning excellence. People who want to find a place where they will be supported and encouraged to do the best work of their career.

At NaturalMotion, we embrace a hybrid work environment. Within this role, you would work a minimum of 2 days per week  (Wednesday and Thursday) in our Birmingham office and the remaining days at home.

How to Apply?

Please apply with your CV, covering letter, and a portfolio of work, made up of game-jam(s), personal projects, and/or open-source contributions, and should demonstrate both team and solo work.

Your cover letter should include the following:

• Why would you like to do an internship with NaturalMotion? 
• Why have you chosen this specific internship?

Job Purpose

As a member of the Game Design team, you will help to create and deliver features and content that are added to the game as well as adjust existing events for players in the live game.

As a Design Intern you’ll have an ambition to make memorable and fun games. You’re starting out on your game design journey and are keen to integrate yourself into a multi-discipline  design  team  with  the  opportunity  to  learn  and  develop  a number  of  game  design  skills such as documentation, balancing, scripting, competitive analysis and playtesting.  A  desire  to  improve,  to  take  on  feedback  with  an open mind and to help your colleagues achieve fantastic results is needed.

Seeking to grow as a Design Intern, you are ready to take on new responsibilities and  challenges,  and  be  pushed  out  of  your  comfort  zone.  You’ll  relish  new challenges  and  tasks,  and  enjoy  the  opportunity  to  collaborate  with  different disciplines such as Programmers, Artists, Product Managers, Producers and Quality Assurance Engineers.

You  will  be  delivering  content  and  features  that  will  be  enjoyed  by  real players, and  will  constantly  be  seeking  to  learn  how  to develop your skills and knowledge as a game designer as well as building your understanding of how games are developed and released in a large studio.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

• Design Documentation: you will be responsible for writing clear design documentation related to a piece of content or a feature, from One-Pager overviews, through to Full Specifications, ready to implement and always kept up-to-date
• Hands-On Implementation: you will learn our development tools and processes to support and channel your efforts toward the shared goals and objectives of the Team
• Quality Playtesting: you will extensively play the game and deliver qualitative feedback across the whole design process, making sure the content you review is as engaging and polished as possible
• Clear, Open-Minded Communication: using software such as Confluence, Slack and Email, as well as being in both virtual and face-to-face meetings, you will be expected to communicate clearly, tailoring your approach to meet the needs of different disciplines and groups and also being thoughtful and respectful to the communication styles of your colleagues
• Cross-Discipline Collaboration: support the project goals and collaborate within the Design Team, as well as at the crossroads of other disciplines’ Teams

Required Skills & Experience

• Undergraduate student, currently studying a degree that allows you to complete a full-time placement in the 3rd year
• Studying Computer Science, Game Design, or a degree with demonstrable relevance to the role
• Ability to learn new tools and developer methodologies
• Comfortable with the Unreal Editor or Unity and repository tools
• Passion for gaming and an interest in pursuing a career in game design 

What We Offer (Eligibility criteria applies)

• Paid internship, with a competitive salary
• Pension plan with a double matching employer contribution (capped at 8%)
• Private medical insurance, dental insurance, and healthcare cash plan
• Life insurance, accident insurance, and long-term disability insurance
• Paid holiday and public holidays
• Annual parties and weekly Happy Hours in the studio 
• Fitness reimbursement plan 
• Annual season ticket advance and cycle-to-work scheme
• Well stocked kitchen pantries (including drinks, fruit, snacks, breakfast cereals and more)
• Free weekly lunches (on select days)

We are an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to building a diverse and talented workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by applicable law. We welcome job-seekers, players, employees, and partners from all backgrounds to join us!

We will consider all qualified job-seekers with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities in order to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.  Please contact us at accommodationRequest@zynga.com to request an accommodation associated with your application for an open position.

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