Lead UX Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Lead UX Designer

Company: Activision Blizzard

Location: Santa Monica, California, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: User Experience (UX) Design / Product Design

Date Posted: February 12, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: On-site (4 days per week)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic direction and ideation for user experience (UX) across key systems and interfaces within the Call of Duty: Mobile product.

• Translate complex player insights, quantitative data, and qualitative research into actionable experience concepts, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers to proactively identify and prioritize high-impact UX opportunities that drive player engagement and satisfaction.

• Act as the primary liaison with the development partner at Tencent, setting UX direction and ensuring alignment on design principles for detailed UI implementation.

• Establish and champion best practices, design standards, and standardized processes for UX within the Call of Duty: Mobile product team.

• Evaluate the performance of UX changes post-launch, leveraging data and player feedback to inform iterative improvements and future design strategies.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as the inaugural dedicated UX designer for the Call of Duty: Mobile team, signifying a critical opportunity to define and shape the future of the game's user experience. The reporting structure to the Senior Director of Product indicates a high level of strategic influence and direct impact on product direction.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead UX ideation and establish design direction for core game systems and user-facing surfaces within Call of Duty: Mobile.

• Synthesize player insights, analytical data, and research findings into compelling experience concepts, detailed user flows, and functional wireframes and prototypes.

• Partner effectively with Product Managers to pinpoint and define significant UX challenges and opportunities for player experience enhancement.

• Collaborate with UX, design, and production teams at Tencent to align on and communicate the overarching UX vision and strategic direction.

• Conduct post-launch analysis of UX implementations, utilizing performance metrics and player feedback to guide subsequent design iterations and strategic planning.

• Define, document, and implement best practices, design standards, and efficient UX processes tailored for the Call of Duty: Mobile product development lifecycle.

• Contribute to defining the long-term UX strategy for Call of Duty: Mobile, ensuring alignment with franchise goals and player expectations.

• Conduct competitor analysis to identify industry trends and best-in-class UX patterns relevant to the mobile gaming landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibility to establish best practices and processes for UX within the CODM product team suggests a need for strong organizational and leadership skills, beyond core design execution. This implies the candidate will be instrumental in building the foundational UX framework for the team.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Psychology, or a related field is often preferred for roles of this caliber in the gaming industry. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.

Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in UX design, product design, or a closely related discipline, with a significant portion focused on digital products and user-centered design methodologies.

Required Skills:

• Proven expertise in leading UX ideation and defining design direction for complex digital products.

• Demonstrated ability to translate player insights, user research findings, and performance data into concrete experience concepts, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes.

• Strong experience in collaborating with Product Managers to identify, define, and prioritize UX problems and opportunities.

• Proficiency in mobile-first design principles and best practices for optimizing user experiences on mobile platforms.

• A robust portfolio showcasing a track record of successfully driving meaningful improvements to user or player experiences.

• Exceptional communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and collaborate effectively across diverse teams.

• Experience working with international development partners, including comfort with late-night meetings to accommodate different time zones (e.g., China).

Preferred Skills:

• Direct experience working on a free-to-play mobile game title.

• Familiarity or experience with rapid prototyping or AI-assisted prototyping tools.

• Playing experience with Call of Duty (mobile, PC, or console) or other similar competitive mobile games.

• Experience in establishing and implementing UX best practices, standards, and processes within a product team.

• Understanding of game design principles and the unique UX considerations of the gaming industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 10+ years of experience, coupled with the "Lead" title and the responsibility of establishing processes, suggests this role is targeted at a senior individual contributor or a potential team lead, expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy and strategic input.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio that clearly demonstrates a deep understanding of user-centered design principles and their application in solving complex problems.

• Case studies showcasing the entire UX design process, from initial research and concept generation through to wireframing, prototyping, and post-launch evaluation.

• Evidence of translating player insights, data analysis, and user research into tangible design solutions that resulted in measurable improvements in user engagement, satisfaction, or retention.

• Examples of user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes that effectively communicate design intent and user journeys.

Process Documentation:

• Showcase your ability to define and document UX workflows, from initial problem definition and ideation phases to detailed design and iterative refinement.

• Provide examples of how you have established and implemented UX best practices, standards, and processes within a team or project.

• Illustrate your approach to measuring the impact of UX initiatives, including how you use data and player feedback for continuous improvement and reporting.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given this is the first dedicated UX role, the portfolio should not only showcase design execution but also the candidate's ability to define and build a UX process. Examples of establishing standards and best practices will be highly valued.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: The provided standard base pay range for this role in the U.S. is $121,500 to $224,880 annually. This range is a guideline and will be adjusted based on factors such as relevant experience, individual performance, and specific work location.

Benefits: Activision Blizzard offers a comprehensive suite of benefits designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of its employees, including:

• Health & Wellness: Medical, Dental, Vision insurance; Health Savings Account (HSA) or Health Reimbursement Account (HRA); Healthcare Spending Accounts; Dependent Care Spending Accounts; Mental Health & Wellbeing Programs; Fitness Programs.

• Financial Security: 401(k) with a Company match; Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance; Disability Insurance; Tuition Reimbursement; Charitable Donation Matching.

• Time Off & Leave: Paid holidays, vacation, and sick time; Floating holidays; Compassion and Bereavement Leaves; Parental Leave.

• Perks: Free and discounted games; Various voluntary benefit programs including supplemental life & disability, legal services, ID protection, and rental insurance.

• Relocation Assistance: May be provided if the Company requires a geographic relocation for the role.

Working Hours: The role is based on-site with a schedule of 40 hours per week. Specific work arrangements may evolve based on business needs. Occasional evening meetings with teams in China are expected, typically no more than twice a week.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is broad, reflecting the seniority and potential impact of the Lead UX Designer role. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their salary expectations based on their experience and the specific value they bring. The comprehensive benefits package indicates a strong commitment to employee well-being.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Interactive Entertainment / Video Games. Activision Blizzard is a major player in the global gaming market, known for developing, publishing, and distributing some of the most iconic entertainment franchises.

Company Size: Activision Blizzard is a large enterprise, with thousands of employees worldwide. This scale offers opportunities for impact and exposure to diverse projects and teams.

Founded: Activision was founded in 1979, with Blizzard Entertainment merging with Activision in 2008 to form Activision Blizzard. This long history signifies a deep legacy and established presence in the gaming industry.

Team Structure:

• The Lead UX Designer will be part of the Call of Duty: Mobile Product Team, reporting to the Senior Director of Product.

• This role involves significant cross-functional collaboration with Product Managers, other designers (likely at Activision and Tencent), developers, and potentially marketing and analytics teams.

Methodology:

• The team likely employs a data-driven approach to product development, leveraging player data, analytics, and user research to inform decisions and prioritize features.

• Agile or iterative development methodologies are common in game development, suggesting a need for flexibility and continuous feedback loops.

• UX processes will be defined and refined by the Lead UX Designer, aiming for efficiency, player-centricity, and alignment with business objectives.

Company Website: https://www.activisionblizzard.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Activision Blizzard's mission to "deliver unrivaled gaming experiences" and its focus on "iconic brands" suggest a high-performance culture driven by creativity, innovation, and a passion for gaming. The emphasis on creating an "inclusive company" is also a key cultural pillar.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Lead UX Designer. This is a senior individual contributor role with significant strategic responsibility. It signifies a leadership position within the UX discipline for the Call of Duty: Mobile product, requiring not only expert design skills but also the ability to define processes, guide direction, and influence product strategy.

Reporting Structure: The role reports directly to the Senior Director of Product, placing it at a strategic level within the product organization. This close reporting line emphasizes the importance of UX in product decision-making.

Operations Impact: The Lead UX Designer will have a direct and measurable impact on the player experience of Call of Duty: Mobile, a globally popular title. By improving engagement, satisfaction, and retention through thoughtful UX design, this role contributes significantly to the game's commercial success and its standing in the competitive mobile gaming market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Development: As the first dedicated UX role, there's a significant opportunity to build and potentially lead a UX team in the future, defining its structure, processes, and culture.

• Strategic Influence: The role offers a chance to shape the UX vision and strategy for a major franchise, influencing product roadmaps and long-term player engagement.

• Skill Specialization: Opportunity to deepen expertise in mobile free-to-play game UX, player psychology in gaming, and cross-cultural design collaboration.

• Industry Exposure: Working within a leading global entertainment company provides exposure to cutting-edge technology, diverse talent, and best practices in the gaming industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Lead" title and the responsibility for establishing processes indicate a strong potential for future leadership growth, possibly into a UX Manager or Director role, depending on team expansion and individual performance.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based in Activision Blizzard's Santa Monica office, specifically at "The Pen Factory." This suggests a modern, potentially collaborative office environment common in the tech and gaming industries.

Office Location(s): Santa Monica, California, United States. This location is a hub for the entertainment and technology sectors, offering a dynamic professional ecosystem.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The role emphasizes close partnership with Product Managers and development teams, suggesting an environment that encourages open communication, brainstorming, and team-based problem-solving.

• Tools & Technology: Employees will have access to the necessary tools and technologies for UX design, prototyping, and collaboration. This likely includes industry-standard software suites.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for regular interaction with other designers, product leads, and stakeholders within Activision Blizzard, fostering knowledge sharing and professional development.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is 40 hours per week, with an on-site requirement of four days per week. This hybrid model balances in-office collaboration with potential flexibility. Occasional evening meetings are required to sync with the development partner in China.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 4 days a week on-site suggests a preference for in-person collaboration and team cohesion, while still offering some flexibility. The need for evening calls highlights the global nature of the development process.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess alignment with the core requirements and experience level.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: You will likely be asked to present a selection of your work, focusing on case studies that demonstrate your UX process, problem-solving abilities, and impact on player/user experience. Be prepared to discuss your role, decisions, and outcomes in detail.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers and potentially other design or development leads to assess your collaboration skills, communication style, and ability to integrate into the team.

• Leadership/Strategic Interview: A discussion with the Senior Director of Product focusing on your strategic thinking, leadership potential, and vision for UX within the Call of Duty: Mobile context.

• Candidate Exercise (Potential): You may be given a design challenge or exercise to complete, either as a take-home assignment or during an interview, to evaluate your problem-solving approach and design execution skills.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Highlight projects where your UX contributions led to measurable improvements in key metrics (e.g., engagement, retention, player satisfaction, conversion rates). Quantify your achievements whenever possible.

• Showcase Process: Clearly articulate your design process for each case study. Explain the "why" behind your decisions, including how you used research, data, and player insights.

• Mobile & Game Specificity: Prioritize examples that demonstrate experience with mobile-first design and, ideally, gaming or free-to-play products.

• Collaboration: Illustrate how you've worked effectively with cross-functional teams, including Product Managers and developers.

• Conciseness: Be prepared to walk through your portfolio efficiently, focusing on the most relevant and impactful projects.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Game: Familiarize yourself with Call of Duty: Mobile – its core gameplay loops, monetization strategy, target audience, and existing UX/UI.

• Player-Centric Thinking: Prepare to address player pain points and opportunities within the game's current experience.

• Strategic Approach: Be ready to discuss how you would approach defining UX priorities and strategies for a live, evolving mobile game.

• Communication: Practice articulating your design decisions and rationale clearly and concisely, as if presenting to stakeholders with varying levels of UX knowledge.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's emphasis on establishing processes, portfolio pieces that demonstrate your ability to create frameworks, define standards, or improve existing workflows will be particularly valuable.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Prototyping & Wireframing: Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, Axure RP (or similar industry-standard tools). Proficiency in creating interactive prototypes is essential.

• User Research & Analysis: Tools for conducting user interviews, usability testing, surveys, and analyzing qualitative feedback. Experience with analytics platforms is also beneficial.

• Collaboration & Project Management: Tools like Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello for task management, documentation, and team communication.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Game Analytics Platforms: Experience with platforms used for tracking player behavior, engagement metrics, and monetization performance (e.g., GameAnalytics, Firebase Analytics, Unity Analytics, custom internal tools).

• Data Visualization: Tools for creating dashboards and reports to communicate UX performance and insights to stakeholders (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker).

CRM & Automation: While not explicitly mentioned for a UX role, familiarity with CRM systems (like Salesforce) and marketing automation tools can provide context on player segmentation and communication strategies within a broader Go-To-Market context.

📝 Enhancement Note: While core UX tools are paramount, demonstrating an understanding of how UX insights integrate with game analytics and player data platforms will be a significant advantage, showing a holistic approach to product improvement.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Player-Obsessed: A deep commitment to understanding and prioritizing the player experience above all else. This translates to empathy, rigorous research, and a focus on creating fun, engaging, and intuitive gameplay.

• Data-Driven Innovation: Utilizing player data, analytics, and research to inform design decisions, validate hypotheses, and drive continuous improvement in a measurable way.

• Collaborative Excellence: Fostering a team-oriented environment where open communication, constructive feedback, and shared ownership are paramount. This extends to working effectively with internal teams and external partners.

• Excellence in Craft: A dedication to high-quality design execution, attention to detail, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in game UX.

• Adaptability & Agility: Embracing change, iterating quickly based on feedback, and remaining flexible in a dynamic, fast-paced development environment.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Proactive engagement with Product Managers, developers, artists, and QA to ensure seamless integration of UX design throughout the product lifecycle.

• Transparent Communication: Maintaining open lines of communication, sharing design rationale, and providing regular updates on progress and findings.

• Feedback-Oriented: Actively seeking and providing constructive feedback to foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

• Shared Vision: Working collaboratively to build a unified understanding and vision for the player experience, ensuring all team members are aligned and working towards common goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "player obsession" and "data-driven innovation" highlights the core tenets of successful game product development at Activision Blizzard.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining a New Role: As the first dedicated UX designer, establishing the function, processes, and influence within the CODM team will be a significant undertaking.

• Balancing Player Needs with Business Goals: Effectively translating player desires into features that also align with monetization strategies and business objectives in a free-to-play environment.

• Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Navigating potential communication barriers, design differences, and time zone challenges when working closely with the development partner at Tencent.

• Evolving Game Landscape: Keeping pace with the rapidly changing mobile gaming market, player expectations, and emerging technologies to ensure the game remains competitive and engaging.

• Data Interpretation: Extracting meaningful, actionable insights from large volumes of player data and research findings.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Mastering Mobile F2P UX: Deepening expertise in the nuances of designing for free-to-play mobile games, including player progression, monetization integration, and live-ops support.

• Strategic Product Influence: Gaining experience in shaping product strategy at a high level, directly contributing to the long-term success of a major franchise.

• Building a UX Function: Developing leadership and organizational skills by setting up and maturing UX processes and potentially mentoring future team members.

• Industry Best Practices: Staying at the forefront of UX trends and best practices within the gaming industry through conferences, workshops, and internal knowledge sharing.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenge of defining a new role presents an exciting opportunity for a candidate who thrives on building and shaping functions from the ground up.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach defining the UX strategy for Call of Duty: Mobile, considering its established player base and competitive landscape?"

• "Describe a time you had to influence stakeholders or development partners who had a different vision for a product's user experience. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?"

• "Given the free-to-play model of Call of Duty: Mobile, how would you balance player experience with monetization goals in your design recommendations?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about working for Activision Blizzard and specifically on the Call of Duty: Mobile team?"

• "How do you approach building relationships and collaborating effectively with development partners in different regions or cultures?"

• "How do you ensure your design decisions are informed by player data and research, and how do you communicate these insights to others?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your process, your specific contributions, the solutions you designed, and the quantifiable results achieved.

• Highlight Impact: Emphasize the "so what" – how your work directly improved the player experience and contributed to business objectives. Use metrics wherever possible.

• Focus on Mobile & Games: Select projects that best showcase your experience with mobile-first design and, ideally, the gaming industry or complex digital products.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals (wireframes, prototypes, user flows) to bring your designs to life and clearly explain your thought process.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about your design choices, trade-offs considered, and challenges encountered.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's emphasis on establishing UX, be ready to discuss how you would build out a UX roadmap, define KPIs for UX success, and integrate UX feedback loops within the existing development process.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Lead UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the official Activision Blizzard careers portal via the provided link.

• Portfolio Customization: Curate your portfolio to prominently feature projects that align with mobile-first design, player experience optimization, and ideally, gaming or free-to-play products. Ensure case studies clearly articulate your process and impact.

• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to highlight your 10+ years of experience, leadership in UX ideation, experience with user research and data translation, and success in improving player/user engagement. Use keywords from the job description.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, strategic thinking, and collaborative approach. Prepare to present your portfolio and discuss your experience with potential challenges like cross-cultural collaboration and defining new processes.

• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Activision Blizzard's brands, mission, and the Call of Duty franchise. Understand the competitive landscape of mobile gaming and the free-to-play model.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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