Product Manager (R&D)
Job description
About the role
This role operates inside Ludios, a studio that builds and publishes its own casual, free-to-play mobile games. The position focuses on proving design ideas through hands-on experimentation rather than setting long-term product strategy. Success is measured by how quickly testable experiences are delivered from direction.
Product managers decide what a team builds and why. They gather customer feedback, define requirements, and set priorities. Product work spans engineering, design, and business teams and ships products that solve real problems. The role combines research, writing, analysis, and decision making under uncertainty. Product work happens at the intersection of user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility. Most product managers own a roadmap and are judged by the outcomes their teams ship.
Key facts
What you'll do
Playable features, systems, and mechanics are constructed from product and creative direction.
Digital tools that combine design, coding, art, and development capabilities are used to create rapid prototypes.
Design alternatives are compared, and a preferred solution is selected for recommendation.
Core design assumptions are validated and uncertainty is reduced before production begins.
Playtest feedback, player behaviour patterns, and early performance data are gathered and analyzed.
Experiment cycles are shortened, and result quality is improved by refining prototyping workflows.
Defined direction is followed with high independence, and day-to-day guidance is minimal.
Requirements
The posting states a bachelor's degree requirement. A degree is required.
Hands-on game design experience across features, systems, or mechanics is required.
Building playable prototypes, instead of relying only on documentation, is required.
Understanding of casual or hybrid-casual mobile game design is required.
Practical experience using AI tools to accelerate design and development workflows is required.
Clear design questions and testable hypotheses are derived from broad direction.
Qualitative feedback and quantitative data are used to evaluate design decisions.
Exploring, discarding, and iterating on ideas quickly is required.
Design, implementation, and early-stage production are spanned effectively.
High initiative drives progress even without detailed instructions.
Nice to have
Backgrounds in game design, technical design, gameplay prototyping, or indie development are common.
Practical notes
The studio operates hybrid hours, with 3 days in the office and 20 remote days per year.
Typical interview steps
Product interviews often include a product sense round, an analytical round, and a behavioral round. Candidates may be asked to design a feature, prioritize a backlog, or estimate a metric. Some loops include a case exercise. Strong candidates show structured thinking and customer empathy. Interviewers want to see how you prioritize when everything matters. Walking through your decision criteria out loud is a strong habit in product interviews.
Good to know
Prototyping is central, using digital tools to test ideas rapidly.
The role focuses on execution through short experiments instead of long-term planning.
Casual and hybrid-casual mobile games form the core of the studio's portfolio.
Data and player feedback directly shape design choices.
AI tools are used to speed up both design and development workflows.
Questions to ask
Worth asking in any interview: how the team measures success, who the role works with daily, what the onboarding looks like, and what the company is trying to achieve this year. Asking what past hires did well is a strong final question. Keep the list short and pick the questions that matter most to you.
Career growth
Product careers usually move from associate to product manager, then to senior, group, or director levels. Some people specialize in growth, platform, or enterprise products. Others move into general management. Success depends on shipped outcomes rather than shipped output. Product careers often reward generalists early and specialists later. Experience shipping measurable outcomes is the strongest signal for promotion.