Principal Systems Designer (Factory Game, Unreal Engine)

Impleo; Deutschland; Remote; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote

Flexible hours

Training budget 100€/month

Yearly on-site team events

Home office budget €2,000

Job summary

tobspr Games is seeking a Principal Systems Designer for a large, long-term project: a 3D factory game built in Unreal Engine. You will own core systems, prototype, and lead design as the team scales.

The role is senior, hands-on, and fully remote from Germany, with CET hours and a focus on long-term project success. You will work closely with the Game Director, turning high-level mechanics into robust systems and eventually leading a small design team while maintaining clear design docs and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional game design experience with a focus on systems design.
• Owned major systems on at least one shipped title (simulation, strategy, automation or similar).
• Strong interest in factory and automation games and long playtime insight.
• Ability to prototype and test ideas hands-on and communicate clearly in English.

Responsibilities

• Design core game systems (production chains, resources, logistics, economy) with input from the Game Director.
• Break high-level mechanics into actionable design specs and systems.
• Prototype and tune systems using spreadsheets, simulations, and Blueprints.
• Write and maintain design docs aligned with in-game implementations.
• Collaborate daily with programmers, artists and production to prevent drift.

Skills

Systems design

Game design leadership

Prototyping

English communication

Tools

Unreal Engine

Job description

About the role

We're looking for a Principal Systems Designer for our next big project: a new 3D factory game built in Unreal Engine, in development until the end of 2028 with a team of around 20 people. We're tobspr Games, a small, fully remote studio based in Germany. You might know us from shapez and shapez 2. For years we've been all-in on factory and automation games, and that's where we're staying. This is a senior, hands‑on role. You won't hand off specs and wait. You'll build systems, break them down, test them, and own them until they work.

Your responsibilities

You'll be the Game Director's closest design partner. The Game Director keeps the overall vision. You take the core mechanics and turn them into systems that hold up over hundreds of hours of play.

What You'll Do

Your responsibilities

• Design the core systems of the game, with input from the game director: production chains, resources, logistics, progression and economy.
• Take high‑level mechanics and break them down, step by step, into something the team can build.
• Prototype and tune systems yourself, in spreadsheets, simulations, Blueprints.
• Write and maintain clear design docs, and keep them in sync with what is actually in the game.
• Work daily with programmers, artists and production so design and implementation don't drift apart.
• Bring structure to the design work: priorities, open questions, decisions and their reasons.
• Act as a sparring partner for the Game Director: challenge ideas, bring alternatives, say when something doesn't work.
• Later on, lead a small design team (Level Designer, Content Designer) and help shape how we do design as a studio.

What We're Looking For

Must-haves

• 8+ years of professional game design experience, with a strong focus on systems design.
• At least one shipped title where you owned major systems, ideally a systemic game (simulation, strategy, sandbox, automation, survival, colony builders or similar).
• You play factory and automation games in your free time and genuinely enjoy them. You don't need to have worked on one, but you need to know why players lose 500 hours to them.
• You think in systems: feedback loops, dependencies, scaling, emergent behaviour and edge cases.
• Hands‑on work style. You prototype and test your ideas yourself, not just on paper.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English.
• Working times compatible with the CET timezone.

Nice to have

• A programming background, or solid scripting skills (Blueprints, C++, C#, Python, Lua or similar).
• Experience with Unreal Engine.
• Experience leading or mentoring other designers.
• You've worked in small or remote indie teams before.
• Bonus: personal projects related to factory games (mods, tools, prototypes, calculators, blueprints). Please include them!

What We Offer

• Full-time (40h/week), fully remote.
• Very flexible working hours.
• Real influence on a game from its early stages.
• Paid overtime (though we do our best to avoid it in the first place).
• Book & training budget (100€/month, more if needed).
• Focus days for learning new skills or researching.
• Yearly on-site team events.
• Automatic baseline salary adjustment of 2% per year.
• Hardware & home office budget (2.000€ when joining, then 1.000€ yearly).
• Job Ticket (if you live in Germany).

About us

We are a small indie studio that makes factory and automation games. We started with web games and found our success on PC. Our current 17 staff come from 5 continents, with a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds. We value direct communication and ownership over bureaucracy. We design for our players, in close collaboration with our community.

We work completely remote and in English; professional working proficiency is enough. We have critical meetings and collaborate with other staff during CET core working hours (approx. 11:00-15:00).

We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, genders, ages, abilities and identities, and we evaluate everyone on the same criteria.