Overview
Halo Studios is the developer of the award-winning Halo series of video games. As part of Xbox Game Studios, the Halo franchise spans games, television, novels, and more, and continues to evolve as one of the industry’s most iconic sci-fi universes. We are looking for a Narrative Design Director to help define and deliver the narrative experience for Halo Next.
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.
Responsibilities
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.
What Success Looks Like:
Crafting Halo experiences consistently described as emotionally resonant, cohesive, and unmistakably Halo.
Narrative direction that scales across modes while remaining clear and intentional.
Storytelling that feels inseparable from gameplay, not layered on.
Teams aligned and empowered by clear narrative vision and decision‑making frameworks.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- 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
- Have shipped at least 2 title released to consumers/shipped game.
- 5+ years people management experience.
Preferred Qualifications:
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.
**Other Requirements: **
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements
Microsoft Cloud Background Check required upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter
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Game Design M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $296,400 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $331,200 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about **requesting accommodations.**