Senior Systems Designer

Senior Systems Designer – Contract until Jan 2027

We are working with a multi-award winning game developer who have worked on multiple award-winning games.

We are looking for a talented Senior Systems Designer to join the creative Design team on a contract basis (inside IR35). With a passion for problem-solving, you will play a key role in implementing our systems and balancing progression whilst guarding the overall vision. This contract will require a minimum of 2 days per week onsite in the Guildford studio.

Your Responsibilities

• Apply your systems knowledge to refine and implement robust, scalable systems, spotting edge cases early and highlighting potential issues or synergies.
• Create accessible prototypes and clear system user flows to illustrate your ideas and support design documentation.
• Use insights to identify data points that validate a design’s success or failure, and determine the dials required to adjust accordingly.
• Own the balance of your systems and how they integrate into overall game progression goals, collaborating with the principal system designer and analytics team.
• Continuously play the game and contribute actionable insights for improvement.
• Work closely with design and engineering teams to navigate technical limitations, proactively identifying risks and proposing innovative solutions.
• Provide technical reference for the wider design team, evaluating features, settings, and sharing best practices in production workflows.
• Rapidly respond to and iterate on player feedback and telemetry to enhance the player experience while maintaining the game vision.
• Champion innovation and continuous improvement, proactively reviewing and evolving design tools, processes, and pipelines.

You Will…

• Have hands-on systems design experience and technical knowledge, including schema creation, in-engine implementation, and tuning.
• Be a strong critical and analytical thinker with an eye for detail, particularly in system tweaking and balance.
• Have shipped or worked on at least one AAA console game, ideally built on a custom engine.
• (Bonus) Bring economy balancing or modelling experience.
• Be a self-starter, able to thrive in an agile environment.
• Have experience with User Testing, championing it alongside data-informed design.
• Be a great collaborator and communicator who thrives when solving problems with the team and sharing results in playable builds.

This is a broad role that will appeal to experienced designers who enjoy thinking about psychology, UX, progression, and pacing, while also being able to clearly communicate with designers, producers, and engineers.