Curriculum Vitae - Sebastien Samson
SEBASTIEN SAMSON | Toronto, Canada
sebsamson.com | ca.linkedin.com/in/sebsamson | contact@sebsamson.com
• Production and studio leader with 17+ years across XR, mobile F2P, MMO, Console and UGC platform ecosystems
• Track record of shipping, scaling live services, owning roadmaps, and aligning cross-discipline teams on KPIs and outcomes on AA and AAA projects
• Strengths include live-ops and roadmap planning, KPI and economy optimization, org design and mentorship, publisher and partner management, and hands-on systems and UX
Game design • Production leadership and delivery • Live-ops and roadmapping • Backlog and prioritization • Cross-discipline execution (Design, Art, Eng) • Economy and monetization • Player experience and retention • Org building, hiring and mentoring • Publisher and partner communications • VR and MR platforms • Analytics-informed decisions
– Game direction & design, production, administration.
VR, PC, Unreal Engine
– Led design and provided production support across a multi-product VR and MR portfolio
– Dotted-line managed design for multiple Horizon Worlds titles and coordinated dependencies with production
– Directed Final Fury (VR) combat and content direction, with hands-on iteration and ongoing playtests
– Supported Roblox and UEFN product framing, feature delivery, and go-to-market readiness
– Coordinated deliverables and milestones with external partners on a standalone VR project
– Department-level leadership for all design teams and creative directors across live F2P titles
– Set standards, built evaluation rubrics, and ran recruiting, training, and mentorship programs
– Orchestrated portfolio-level planning and resource allocation across multiple live services
– Partnered with Product and Analytics to define KPIs, experiment roadmaps, and next-quarter priorities
– Titles included Jurassic World Alive, Jurassic World: The Game, Love Link, Dragons: Rise of Berk, TMNT Legends, Feud Live!, DC Heroes & Villains
– Project owner for Project CARS GO (mobile F2P, launched)
– Owned roadmap, backlog, milestone delivery, KPI monitoring and optimization, economy, and UX
– Built and led the design team while coordinating delivery with engineering, art, QA, and analytics
– Managed publisher communications, gates, and post-launch operations
– Instituted backlog hygiene, clear Definition of Ready and Definition of Done, and regular postmortems
– Creative and production leadership for LEGO Life (mobile, launched)
– Drove backlog definition and prioritization tied to engagement and retention goals
– Coordinated multiple pods and aligned initiative briefs with brand, safety, and platform constraints
– Translated telemetry and qualitative findings into sprint priorities and feature tuning
– Co-owned product vision and led designers for Farmerama (F2P MMO, live)
– Stabilized declining KPIs through targeted systems and feature delivery
– Built an experiment pipeline with success criteria and roll-out plans
– Established documentation standards and rituals to speed handoffs and approvals
– Contributed to system design, production support, and prototype-to-ship pipelines
– Shipped titles on Wii, DS, and iPhone and worked on Skylanders: Spyro’s Universe (web MMO)
• Dotted-line managed all design ICs, leads, and creative directors across the studio
• Built standards for specs, UX flows, and review rituals that improved throughput and clarity
• Co-owned portfolio prioritization across content velocity, feature bets, and tech debt paydown
• Partnered with Product and Analytics on KPI trees, experiment charters, and readouts
• Recruited, onboarded, and mentored senior hires; set career ladders and progression paths
• Streamlined ceremonies to reduce meeting load and increase decision speed
• Coordinated cross-title resourcing to meet seasonal content and event commitments
• Advocated for player-first design choices while maintaining delivery predictability
• End-to-end ownership of scope, budget awareness, timelines, and launch readiness
• Ran roadmap and backlog with clear prioritization and measurable outcomes
• Translated KPI readouts for retention and conversion into economy and UX changes
• Instituted A and B test plans and experiment analysis in partnership with analytics
• Coordinated art, engineering, QA, and publishing stakeholders to hit gates on time
• Managed publisher communications, build reviews, and go or no-go decisions
• Implemented rituals for sprint planning, reviews, and postmortems to drive continuous improvement
• Ensured live-ops planning, event cadence, and support processes after launch
• Prioritized backlog with PMs and engineers to move retention and engagement targets
• Tuned progression, reward, and social loops based on telemetry and safe-by-design constraints
• Coordinated multiple pods and maintained alignment across brand and platform guidelines
• Authored specs and UX flows that accelerated implementation and reduced rework
• Drove experiment plans with success criteria and clear roll-out steps
• Led a small design team focused on systems, events, and live-ops features
• Arrested KPI declines by shipping targeted improvements to core loops and sinks or sources
• Created experiment playbooks, dashboards, and rollout plans with risk controls
• Standardized documentation and review templates to speed cross-team handoffs
• Partnered with community and support teams to transform feedback into actionable backlog items
• Drove systems and UX specs across Wii, DS, and iPhone titles, coordinating with production and engineering
• Supported prototype-to-ship pipelines with documentation, balancing, and live issue triage
• Contributed to Skylanders: Spyro’s Universe and other shipped projects with a focus on player flow and pacing
• Final Fury (VR, playtests) • Project CARS GO (mobile, launched) • LEGO Life (mobile, launched) • Farmerama (MMO, live) • Skylanders: Spyro’s Universe (web MMO, launched)
• Production and collaboration: Jira, Confluence, Google Workspace, Spreadsheets, PowerPoint, Live Boards, Wikis, Flowcharts
• Engines: Unity, Unreal
• Source control: Perforce, Git
• Languages (working knowledge): C#, JS, VBA
• Université de Montréal (UdeM) D.E.S.S. in Game Design (Master’s-equivalent)
• UQÀM B.A. Communications, Interactive Multimedia
• Google Project Management, Coursera
• French (native) • English (professional) • German (intermediate)
• Reduced time to decision by improving specs and review rituals and by formalizing Definition of Ready and Definition of Done
• Improved roadmap predictability by aligning milestones with resource plans and risk burndown
• Strengthened hiring and retention through career ladders, mentoring programs, and interview rubrics
• Mentored designers and producers on KPI interpretation, economy tuning, and spec writing
• Led postmortems and knowledge shares that translated into concrete process improvements
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