Your Impact
You aren't like everybody else. You aim a little higher. You reach a little further. Your experience is much broader than just a previous career or a few past jobs. You've been listening, learning, and paying attention to recent events which have demonstrated to you why building world-class technology for Public Safety is so important. You do more because it matters to you.
You are a rabid writer, the creative daydreamer whose passion for making audiences feel emotionally connected to your stories is paired with your innate desire for social good. You'll bring to life not just a single story but complex branching narrative systems that weave the elements of immersive sound design, 3D environments, character development, and dialogue - using decades of Law Enforcement experience to design and ship dozens of memorable learning experiences. As a Lead Narrative Systems Designer at Axon, you will play an important role in the creative process in which teams create and bring to life the playable characters that exist in our Simulator Training.
As part of Axon's VR & AR team, you'll be a key player driving new content ideas and working with VR and AR technologies to conceive, test and build immersive user experiences that will define the future of augmented and virtual reality use in Public Safety applications. We see leveraging the technology for training applications to be the first stop on our journey.
You will join an interdisciplinary team tackling the biggest challenges in public safety training head-on, including immersive VR-based empathy development training and de-escalation training to help officers engage with the communities they serve with greater awareness and safety.
As Lead Narrative Systems Designer for Axon's Virtual and Augmented Reality program, you will be responsible for unleashing the creativity of the narrative design function, helping to tell impactful stories in dynamic virtual spaces, leveraging a specialized learning program that allow users to feel as though endless possibilities exist.
We seek to accomplish this while abiding to the following guiding principles:

1. Build AR and VR Solutions for Social Good: With our mission to Protect Life, we develop AR & VR solutions that benefit both law enforcement and the community, while addressing key issues in society.
2. Empower Agencies with Data: Deliver ongoing data and analysis that provide agencies with key insights that enable them to make decisions that result in building better, more efficient, and positive programs.
3. Develop an Active and Diverse Virtual Platform: Leverage the latest in AR & VR technologies to create a robust portfolio of solutions and the highest-quality content, that enable users to be more effective in their roles and manage the challenges of 21st century public safety.

Responsibilities

• Ownership of the narrative design development process including all deliverables, all documentation that guides the creation of content, and the creative direction of the stories.
• Lead and mentor a team of fellow narrative designers to develop a consistent and engaging cadence of content.
• Create story outlines and project briefs of situations that can be compellingly represented and experienced in the simulation.
• Inspire teammates by participating constructively in production and content-related meetings with experts to design and share ideas for new scenarios, character personas, and virtual environments, highlighting specific details for the learner.
• Help to create narrative systems that can support the required interactions and gameplay of the VR/AR training scenarios.
• Drive forward the future of narrative interactions, by exploring new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP).
• Work with sound producers and design leadership to plan voiceovers, such writing/reviewing casting documents and providing talent direction in voice recording sessions.
• Ensure all VR content achieves the mentality of "Protect Life" with expert-backed Learning Outcomes.
• Be a strategic thought partner by improving writing workflows, script methodologies, and processes.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum five (5) years of experience working in a Writer and/or Narrative Designer role in game development or related fields.
• An excellent understanding of non-linear narrative systems and structures, with demonstrated work.
• Knowledge of narrative design and scriptwriting tools (such as Final Draft, Inkle, Twine, etc.)
• Familiarity with scripting and/or programming tools.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with experience pitching ideas and quickly storyboard for review.
• Experience working with voiceover directors and talent during VO recordings.
• A passion for Extended Reality (XR) technologies, such as Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in or with Public Safety, most notably law enforcement.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary and 401K with employer match.
• Discretionary paid time off.
• Robust parental leave policy.
• An award-winning office/working environment.
• Ride along with real police officers in real life situations, explore wide range of third-party VR content, get inspired.
• Get paid to play
• And more...

#LI-REMOTE