All right, ladies (and non-binary folks!): real talk time.

We currently have zero female developers or designers on the Pathfinder RPG staff. (I know, right?)

EDIT: I made a big stupid mistake. We DO have a female designer, the awesome Tanis O'Connor, on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. We don’t have any female designers on the RPG. Sorry, Tanis. *blush*

But we have an opportunity to change that. We’re hiring a new developer.

A developer is basically the movie director for their products. They work with the managers and other developers on the production team to come up with ideas for what each book is going to be about and fit it into our overall product array (so, if you’re a campaign setting developer, some of the areas of our world you cover will tie into current adventure paths or modules or hardcovers, while on others, it’s basically carte blanche to do something interesting). Then they outline the book, assign it to freelance writers, work with the art team to figure out what art is going to be in it, and develop the freelancer text to ensure it’s exciting, well-written, and sounds like Pathfinder.

Even junior developers do that – they just may get help from our more senior developers, but it’s still a position where they get to have a direct hand in building our world, writing stuff that’s published in our books, and so on. It’s a creative position with the sort of influence and direct control, at least from my experience in video games, for which you usually have to work at a company for years to get even a small piece of.

It’s a chance to be at the center of making the best-selling tabletop roleplaying game in the world, on a team of A+ human beings who are wildly creative, funny, and devoted to making great games that welcome everyone into our world.

I really want to see this position go to someone who’s new and fresh. If you are a strong writer who plays and loves Pathfinder, I want you to apply. Yes, you. I don’t care if you’re just out of college. YOU.

Now let me talk to you not as a Paizo employee, but as a woman who’s been around the block in games several times.

We’re doing blind applications-writing/design tests, which means no one is going to know who you are when they review your test. Any unconscious biases anyone might have about your name or your school or your previous experience or whatever? Not going to be a factor in reviewing your test. (And if you’ve read much about women in predominantly male fields, you’ll probably know that blind applications are one of the single best things for women’s chances of getting hired.)

There’s no embarrassment here if you don’t make it to the round of people who actually get interviews. We’re not going to mock you for applying. You’re not being presumptuous or arrogant by applying. You’re being a badass, like Mythic Kyra up there.

So put aside your impostor syndrome. Stop telling yourself that you don’t have the experience or the talent or the qualifications – I guarantee you there are a ton of guys who are less qualified than you who aren’t telling themselves that – and stop worrying that we’re going to think you’re presumptuous or silly for applying. We’re not.

And believe me when I tell you this is one of the good ones. You’re not going to make as much as you might in video games – tabletop’s a different industry – but you will have more creative input than you’re likely to get in your first job in video games. You’ll also have Wes Schneider, the single best manager I’ve ever worked with, as a manager. You’ll have a great team around you, full of people who genuinely want to make great games and want to work with you instead of competing with you. You’ll get to work with awesome freelance writers like Amber Scott and Crystal Frasier. You’ll have the chance to hone your craft in a supportive environment. I’ll be there and I’ll have your back.

You’ll be working for a company with a female CEO. She’s a badass and one of the founders of the entire RPG industry.

You won’t have to put up with daily sexist microaggressions. You won’t have to be one of the boys to be one of the team. I mean that.

(Also, you’ll get free copies of everything we make, and yearly bottles of Goblin Fire red wine.)

So. Do you live (or want to live) in the Seattle area? Are you a strong writer? Do you GM Pathfinder and create your own content? Do you have an English degree, or equivalent writing experience?

Apply. Do it now. Yes, there’s a big, scary-looking list of requirements. There is for every job. Do it anyway. Did you answer yes to all the questions above? Then apply. Look up at Mythic Kyra. She believes in you.

We want you to apply, we want you to be good, and we all had to take leaps of faith at some point and say, “I believe I am good enough to do this.” That’s how we got here.

Come tell stories and build worlds with us.

Art: Mythic Kyra by Eric Belisle