Technical UI/UX Designer (10-month Contract)

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.

In 2022, we announced that our studio is implementing a four-day work week as well as supporting in-studio, remote within Canada, and hybrid work arrangements as permanent options to our employees.

Blackbird Interactive is looking for an experienced Technical UI/UX Designer to support the hands-on adaptation of a large, established simulation game to new platforms and display environments. This role is strongly implementation-focused, centering on directly modifying, rebuilding, and integrating existing UI systems to support new resolutions, input methods, and platform constraints, while preserving usability, clarity, and the core player experience.

You’ll work closely with design, engineering, art, and production to actively implement and refactor UI screens, flows, and interactions, ensuring they feel native to the target platform. This role sits firmly at the intersection of design and engineering, requiring practical experience working inside UI systems, strong technical fluency, and a deep understanding of how interfaces behave across different screen sizes, control schemes, and performance profiles. If you enjoy getting your hands dirty in UI tools, solving real-world platform challenges, and making complex interfaces feel intuitive and robust, this role could be a great fit for you!

Responsibilities:
• Collaborate with design, engineering, and production to adapt existing UI systems for new platforms, resolutions, and input methods while preserving established gameplay workflows.
• Design, adjust, and implement UI layouts that scale effectively across a wide range of screen sizes, aspect ratios, and viewing distances.
• Work hands-on within the UI toolset to modify, extend, and debug UI screens, flows, and interactions to meet platform-specific requirements.
• Partner closely with engineers to ensure UI performance, responsiveness, and technical stability across target platformsIdentify UX friction introduced by platform changes (controller input, navigation paradigms, readability at distance) and propose practical, implementable solutions.
• Maintain consistency with existing UI style, hierarchy, and interaction patterns while making necessary adjustments for usability and accessibility.
• Test UI thoroughly in-game, diagnosing layout issues, navigation problems, and edge cases, and iterating to improve clarity and player experience.
• Create and maintain clear documentation to communicate UI changes, constraints, and best practices to cross-disciplinary partners

Requirements:
• At least 3 years of professional experience in UI/UX design for games, with a strong emphasis on implementation and technical problem-solving.
• Hands-on experience working with Scaleform-based UI systems, including layout, data binding, animation, and debugging.
• Experience supporting ports or platform transitions for complex, UI-heavy games.
• Familiarity with controller-first UX patterns, focus management, and non-mouse navigation models.
• Strong understanding of cross-platform UI challenges, particularly adapting PC-focused interfaces for console or other input-constrained environments.
• Experience supporting UI across multiple resolutions and aspect ratios, with a focus on readability, hierarchy, and interaction clarity.
• Ability to work independently within established systems, manage tasks, and iterate on feedback in a production environment.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with experience working closely with engineers, designers, artists, and QA

Pluses:
• Interest in accessibility, usability, and player comfort, especially for long play sessions and large-screen environments.
• Experience improving or refactoring legacy UI systems while maintaining consistency with an established player experience.
• Comfort working in technically constrained environments and finding elegant solutions within existing frameworks.
• Background in UI animation, motion, or visual polish that enhances clarity without overwhelming the player