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Senior Systems Designer

A leader in creating deep and engaging experiences on PC and mobile, Jagex was founded in 2001 and is today one of the UK’s biggest and most respected video game developers and publishers.

Famed for its flagship MMOs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, Jagex has welcomed more than 260million player accounts to its world and created a $1bn lifetime franchise revenue. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds.

Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly-active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped.

Jagex is expanding and extending its portfolio with fresh franchise titles, new IP and, in 2018 launched Jagex Partners, delivering third-party publishing and operational services exclusively for the living games of the future.

Jagex employs more than 400 people at its Cambridge headquarters and is on the hunt for talented people to work across the business to help the company to achieve yet another year of record growth and player satisfaction.

You will be responsible for designing engaging systems and seeing your designs through from inception to realisation. This will involve creating features, game systems, and economies that are well balanced and will help power the core game experience. You will work closely with the Lead Designer to help shape and champion the vision.

A senior designer is responsible for the design and implementation of significant content and systems. It is expected that they will take high-level briefs and translate them into clear, actionable designs that support the product pillars, respect product scope, and can be easily maintained in a live environment.

Senior designers are proactive about gathering feedback and improving. They foster a culture of creative collaboration by participating in playtests and delivering feedback to others in a clear, impersonal, respectful manner. Seniors can identify holistic problems with the game, formulate solutions, and effectively manage that information upwards to leadership. They are ready and willing to assist the lead designer as and when required.

Senior designers are team players, and they form strong relationships across disciplines. They will seek out insight, support, and buy-in from artists, analysts, marketers, engineers, and others by involving them early in the creative process. They can effectively evangelize their vision and communicate the goals and constraints to others.

At a senior level, it is important to demonstrate an all-round ability to solve problems reliably and autonomously with great organisational, scheduling and mentorship skills. They must show an ability to look more broadly at product development and strategize accordingly within their discipline. Overall, seniors are expected to take on a higher level of responsibility for the quality and timely delivery of complex tasks on their project.

Key Duties

• Develop, evaluate, and iterate the designs around systems and economies such as progression, itemization, reward loops, and player resources.
• Assess and fine tune various systems to be well balanced to meet the experiential goals of the product.
• Own multiple features and gameplay elements
• Create designs and then see them through production and live operations to highest quality
• Solicit feedback and use data such as telemetry, playtest feedback, and user research to help validate designs.
• Communicate regular updates to discipline and team; be proactive in communicating progress and solving problems.
• Produce exemplar designs that support the creative vision and product pillars
• Pitch, protype and iterate various game systems
• Set and maintain standards of quality
• Document best practices and guidance
• Strive for ways to improve process, identify, and remove production issues early
• Collaborate with all disciplines to ensure optimal path, balancing and best design solutions
• Foster an environment of creativity and collaboration
• Strive to raise the knowledge level of game design within the team
• Provide useful, thoughtful, and respectful peer feedback
• Support, guide, and mentor others more junior

Essential Skills:

• Experience creating various systems such as progression, itemization, and crafting that retain well and keep players engaged
• Experience tuning and balancing game economies
• Working knowledge of trends in the competitive landscape of survival craft with long term retention
• Passion for game design and anything design related
• Player-centric design thinking
• Ability to pitch ideas and give feedback to other designers and members of the team
• Ability to breakdown design problems if something isn’t working and then present solutions to those problems
• Strong communication skills, effective at working with different disciplines to evangelize the vision and break it down into detailed deliverables.
• Experience with Unreal Engine
• 3+ years of experience in a systems design or similar role
• At least one shipped title in a similar role

- Flexible Working

- Bonus Scheme

- Private Health Care

- Gym Membership

- Generous Pension Contributions

- Life Insurance

- Free Cycle Repair

- Income Protection

- Dental Plan

- Free Fruit and Drinks

- Subsidised Canteen

Feel like you fit this role, but don’t meet all the requirements? We strive for fresh perspectives, so as long as you can demonstrate how your attitude and other abilities might make up for any gaps we would welcome your application!

Jagex are an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.