Game Director / Potential Co-founder — Mankind | Remote | Equity Only

Game Director / Potential Co-founder — Mankind Fully Remote · Hands-on Game Leadership Compensation: Equity-based. No salary at this stage. About Mankind Mankind is an early-stage first-person science-fiction MMO-RPG looter-shooter project. Our ambition is to create a world players want to explore, with engaging combat, meaningful loot, hidden discoveries, memorable factions, and challenging experiences worth returning to. We’re at the beginning of that journey. The immediate focus is to turn the creative direction into a focused, playable experience that demonstrates what makes Mankind compelling. We’re looking for an experienced game developer who wants to help shape that journey and take responsibility for how the game comes together. The Role We’re looking for a Game Director who combines strong design judgment with practical development experience. You’ll work closely with the founder to shape Mankind’s gameplay direction, define realistic priorities, and guide the development of its first playable experience. You should be comfortable working directly on prototypes, gameplay systems, or level layouts, alongside guiding the people responsible for implementation. Your experience should help us ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and make clear decisions about what to build, improve, simplify, or leave for later. For the right person, there is the potential to develop this into a cofounder partnership, with shared responsibility for building Mankind and the studio behind it. What Excites You Building from the Beginning: You enjoy taking an ambitious concept and finding the practical steps that bring it to life. Creating Compelling Gameplay: You care about how combat, exploration, encounters, loot, and progression feel when someone actually plays. Staying Hands-on: You enjoy working in the engine, testing ideas, and solving development problems alongside the team. Making Meaningful Decisions: You want responsibility for gameplay direction, quality, and scope. Helping People Improve: You enjoy giving useful feedback and helping contributors understand how their work fits into the game. Building Something Long-term: You’re interested in helping establish a game and a studio over time. What Excites Us Experience That Shows: You have substantial game-development experience, supported by released games or strong playable work. You can clearly explain your personal contribution. Practical Design Judgment: You understand player motivation, combat, encounter design, progression, and how different systems affect each other. Hands-on Development: You can contribute directly to prototypes or playable content and collaborate closely with gameplay programmers. Scope Discipline: You can turn a large vision into manageable milestones and make difficult trade-offs when time, people, or resources are limited. Team Leadership: You’ve guided contributors, coordinated work across disciplines, and helped a team improve the quality of what it produces. Constructive Challenge: You can question an idea, explain your reasoning, listen to other perspectives, and commit to an agreed direction. Clear Communication: You collaborate comfortably in English and keep a remote team informed about priorities, progress, and blockers. Bonus points: Experience with first-person shooters, action RPGs, loot and progression systems, multiplayer development, or taking a small team from concept to a playable prototype. We care about what you’ve made, the responsibility you carried, and the decisions you learned from. What You’ll Own Gameplay Direction: Translate the creative vision into clear design principles and practical development priorities. The First Playable Experience: Define and guide a focused mission that connects combat, exploration, discovery, and loot. Prototyping and Iteration: Help build and test ideas early, identifying what works through playable results. Development Scope: Establish milestones, identify dependencies, and keep the team focused on what the current stage needs. Team Alignment: Help design, art, narrative, and technical contributors work toward the same experience. Playtesting: Organise feedback, assess the results, and turn findings into clear development decisions. Team Development: Help identify the skills we need next and provide direction to less experienced contributors.

What We Offer

Meaningful Creative Responsibility: Help shape Mankind’s gameplay and development direction from an early stage. Direct Founder Collaboration: Work closely on priorities, difficult decisions, and the project’s long-term direction. Equity-based Compensation: No salary is available at this stage. The equity allocation and terms will be discussed and agreed before joining. Potential Cofounder Partnership: For the right person, the opportunity to share long-term ownership, responsibility, and decision-making, subject to mutual agreement. Fully Remote Collaboration: Working arrangements and weekly availability will be agreed together. This role requires consistent involvement to guide development and support contributors. Life at Mankind We value initiative, honest communication, curiosity, and people who take responsibility for their work. Ideas should be open to discussion. Decisions should have clear reasons. Progress should be visible in what we build and learn. We want someone who brings experience, shares it openly, and helps the whole team make better games.

How to Apply

Apply through this vacancy with your CV or professional profile, including: One or two relevant games or playable projects. Explain your personal contribution, the team size, and what you helped deliver. Include links or gameplay footage where available. A development decision you owned. Tell us about something you changed, simplified, or removed, and why. Why Mankind interests you. Explain what attracts you to the game direction and whether you’re interested in a potential cofounder partnership. Your availability. Include your earliest start date, weekly availability, and time zone. Your understanding of the compensation. Confirm that you understand this is an equity-based opportunity with no salary at this stage. Concise, specific examples help us understand your experience. Let’s bring Mankind’s first playable experience to life.