Game Designer & Game Lead

About the role

Wildlife Studios is seeking a Game Designer & Game Lead to drive the creation of new titles within our New Games team. You will oversee the full product lifecycle, from initial thesis and prototyping to global launch, helping us reach our goal of entertaining billions of players. In this capacity, you will act as the primary visionary and executor for new game initiatives, ensuring that creative ambitions align with market realities and business objectives. You will synthesize qualitative insights and quantitative signals to define a cohesive product identity from concept to completion. This role requires ownership of both strategic direction and tactical execution across all stages of development. You will mentor junior designers and facilitate collaborative workshops to maintain a high standard of creative output. The position demands rigorous analysis paired with bold experimentation to validate hypotheses quickly and de-risk investments. Ultimately, you will be responsible for delivering experiences that resonate deeply with players and scale efficiently within our portfolio.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Conduct in-depth market research to identify white spaces and formulate high-potential game concepts capable of achieving long-term engagement.
• Synthesize player behavior data and market trends to construct and maintain a dynamic product roadmap that guides feature prioritization.
• Author comprehensive game design documents that specify core mechanics, progression systems, and monetization frameworks for engineering consumption.
• Partner with art and distribution leads to define visual themes and narrative hooks that maximize appeal across target demographics.
• Critique design implementations proposed by engineering and art teams to ensure fidelity to the product vision and technical feasibility.
• Coordinate schedules and dependencies with cross-functional partners including data science, engineering, and marketing to uphold launch commitments.
• Execute structured playtesting sessions and leverage competitor benchmarks to validate design hypotheses and uncover improvement opportunities.
• Analyze live performance metrics to assess the success of design changes and iterate on mechanics, retention, and monetization strategies.
• Champion a culture of experimentation by establishing rapid prototyping cycles that enable fast learning and evidence-based decision-making.
• Communicate progress and rationale to stakeholders through clear documentation and compelling narratives that align teams around shared goals.

Requirements

• Hold a professional background in game or product design with a track record of shipping titles or leading development in hackathons and game jams.
• Demonstrate proven ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative data to inform design decisions and validate product hypotheses.
• Exhibit strong interpersonal and written communication skills to articulate design intent and collaborate effectively with diverse teams.
• Thrive in fast-paced, iterative release cycles where scope, feedback, and priorities evolve rapidly.
• Maintain a lifelong personal history of playing games across genres, platforms, and business models to inform design intuition.
• Operate effectively with minimal supervision, taking initiative to solve ambiguous problems and drive projects to completion.
• Embrace a mindset of continuous learning, staying current with industry trends, tools, and emerging design methodologies.
• Align with Wildlife Studios values of ownership, collaboration, and excellence in execution.

Nice to have

• Accumulated prior experience launching mobile games that have achieved meaningful user acquisition and retention.
• Demonstrated ability to build interactive prototypes using programming to test gameplay mechanics and interface flows.
• Familiarity with artificial intelligence tools applied to programming tasks or art generation to accelerate prototyping and iteration.

Skills & tools

• Data analysis
• Product roadmap management
• Game design documentation
• Cross-functional team leadership
• Market research

Practical notes

Wildlife Studios is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected characteristics. Reasonable accommodations are available for candidates with disabilities during the recruitment process.