About Kodable

Kodable was founded to fill a gap in education currently affecting over 250 million kids around the world. Our mission is to help prepare kids for success in the 21st century by making programming education accessible to everyone.

We make awesome games that not only teach kids about programming, but help develop soft skills like grit, perseverance, and problem solving. Kids journey through the Smeeborgian Universe with a family of furry aliens and learn about programming logic, JavaScript, and game design. Kodable also includes a curriculum for elementary school teachers so they can feel confident teaching along side the game.

Kodable is already used in over 50% of US schools, and in over 190 countries. Help us continue our mission and expose millions more kids to the wonderful world of computer science!

About the role

Position Overview:

Kodable is seeking a forward-thinking Director of Product Design who places user experience at the heart of everything they do. As the driving force behind our product team, you'll design games that deeply resonate with our young learners to teach computer programming. You’ll combine strategic insights with an unwavering commitment to user-focused design to keep players coming back to learn more. If you're a firm believer in purposeful design and extraordinary user experiences and share our mission to teach kids computer programming, we invite you to lead our team.

Key Responsibilities

User-Focused Product Leadership: Define project objectives that both prioritize user needs and align with our mission to teach kids programming. Ensure each project contributes to our broader objectives and enriches the user experience.
End-to-End Development Ownership: Take the reins of the entire game development process, spanning initial ideation, design, play testing, development, refinement, quality checks, and launch, all with the goal of delivering outstanding player experiences.
Define Project Features: Collaborate across teams to outline project features and requirements, infusing every aspect with a deep understanding of user needs. Ensure technical details, designs, and deadlines contribute to an enriching user journey.
Clear MVP Translation: Turn ambitious concepts into tangible Minimum Viable Products that validate innovative ideas and new features using lean startup methodologies.
Empowering Team Collaboration: Organize and guide a talented product team, assigning roles based on strengths and project demands. Cultivate a creative environment where team members are accountable to one another and have the freedom to carry out their ideas.
Preemptive Risk Management: Sensing areas of risk in a project, whether related to morale, communication, deadlines, technical issues, or other factors. Minimizing potential risks by planning ahead or promptly communicating with relevant parties.
Assumption Validation: Lead efforts to validate assumptions made in product ideation and development by conducting user interviews, play-tests, or experiments.
Holistic Design Perspective: Maintain a comprehensive understanding of our players’ needs and motivations, as well as the design principles of our products. Guide the team towards cohesive design that contributes to a fun educational experience for players.
User Feedback Cycle: Work with the User Experience team to track results, and spot openings for improvement, ensuring our products aren't just functional, but bring players back again and again.
Effective Communication: Actively listen to employee feedback and concerns, even when indirect or casual. Advocate for employees' interests during product planning discussions, representing their perspectives to the Project Manager and the CEO.

Qualifications and Experience:

8+ years of experience in Product Design, Game Design, Product Management, or a related field.
3+ years of leadership experience in game design or product design projects.
A passion for games and a desire to make a difference with your work.
Experience validating design ideas with both qualitative and quantitative strategies including: play tests or user tests, user interviews, A/B tests, and cohort studies.
Demonstrate an understanding of agile product development as well as the lean startup model for iterative product development.
Strong grasp of game design principles, user-centered design methodologies, and UX best practices.
Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, fostering seamless collaboration across distributed teams.
Strategic mindset with a knack for translating user insights and business objectives into impactful design strategies.
Experience in preempting potential challenges, creative problem-solving, and proactive risk management.
Previous experience in team leadership, fostering collaboration, and setting clear expectations.

If you're passionate about driving innovation through thoughtful product design, possess a strategic mindset, and have a proven ability to lead and inspire teams, we invite you to apply for the role of Director of Product Design. Join us in creating games and tools to ignite kids’ curiosity and passion for programming. Your expertise will be pivotal in the design of our games and contributing to the education and growth of future generations.

About Kodable:Kodable was founded to fill a gap in education currently affecting over 250 Million kids around the world. Our world is powered by technology, but most kids aren't taught how that technology actually works. Our mission is to help kids embrace and harness that power by making programming education accessible to everyone.

Used by over 30 million kids in over 50% of US schools, and across 190 countries around the world, our games give parents and teachers a way to help their children learn about programming and computer science. The best part - they're actually fun! With Kodable, kids can use code to navigate the Technomazes of Smeeborg, program their own robot to take care of their virtual pets, and even build and share their own games.

Help us continue our mission and expose millions more kids to the wonderful world of computer science!

Technology

We are one of the largest web-based games in the world, with hundreds of thousands of kids using us every week. Our API serves hundreds of thousands of requests per day on only a couple dynos, while simultaneously powering both a web and iOS based game built in Unity

We believe in staying lean as both a company and with our code, and focus on resource-efficient solutions as often as possible. We also iterate and ship quickly - you could build a feature in a couple days that immediately reaches millions of users worldwide.

Kodable remote jobs

Unity Game Developer

Director of Product Design

Senior Game Designer

Senior Full Stack Engineer