Senior Game Designer | Candy Crush Saga

Xbox Media Solutions (Formerly Activision Blizzard Media); Barcelona; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

King is seeking a Senior Game Designer for Candy Crush Saga to shape the metagame features and systems that drive player progression and social engagement. You will own progression, events, and social loops end-to-end, from strategic framing to live release and iteration, partnering with product, UX, and engineering to deliver engaging experiences.

You will analyze data and player insights to balance features, craft compelling documentation, and bring fresh ideas to keep the metagame ahead of

Qualifications

• Proven experience designing and running live metagame features in casual mobile games.
• Owned or significantly contributed to metagame features driving long-term engagement.
• Ability to design and balance interconnected systems, progression, rewards, pacing, and player motivation.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve metagame features and systems to deepen engagement and reflect player motivation.
• Own metagame features end-to-end from concept through live release and iteration.
• Use data and player insights to inform, balance, and tune features against key metrics.
• Translate goals, KPIs, and insights into clear design documentation with rationale.
• Partner with live ops to maximize impact of live events on retention.
• Collaborate with product, UX, engineering, and other designers to deliver cohesive experiences.
• Ensure metagame features integrate with core gameplay and wider game ecosystem.
• Stay informed on F2P monetization trends and share insights with the team.

Skills

Live F2P Metagame Design

Feature Ownership

Systems & Economy Thinking

Data-Driven Decision Making

Player-Centric Mindset

Collaborative Communication

Mentorship & Leadership

Job description

Craft:

Games Design & Production

Job Description:

Are you a systems thinker and creative architect? Do you dream of crafting features that connect everything together: where player progress feels meaningful, social interactions spark joy, and every reward motivates another level?

We’re looking for a talented and collaborative Senior Game Designer to join the Gameplay team in Candy Crush Saga, shaping the future of our metagame features and systems in one of the most successful live games in the world. You’ll bring deep systems thinking to the features behind progression, competitive events, and social loops that touch millions of players every day.

Your role within the Kingdom

As a Senior Game Designer, you’ll design and optimize metagame features and systems, such as progression, competitive events, and social loops, that bring structure, meaning, and delight to the player journey and support the team’s key strategic bets. You’ll own these features and systems end to end, from strategic framing and prototyping through implementation, live release, and iteration, and you’ll be able to explain not just what a feature does but why its specific values, pacing, and reward structure are the right solution.

You’ll collaborate closely with product managers, UX designers, engineers, and other game designers to define, prototype, and deliver features and systems that are easy to use, deeply satisfying, and seamlessly connected to the core game.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and evolve metagame features and systems, such as progression, competitive events, and social loops, that deepen engagement and reflect a strong understanding of player behavior and motivation.

• Own metagame features, systems, and strategic bets end-to-end, from concept and specification through implementation, live release, and iteration.

• Use quantitative and qualitative data and player insights to inform, balance, and tune features and systems against key metrics.

• Translate strategic goals, KPIs, and player insights into clear, structured, and actionable design documentation, explaining why specific values, triggers, and pacing are the right solution.

• Partner with live ops teams to design and optimize features that maximize live events’ impact and player retention.

• Collaborate deeply with cross-functional teams (product, UX, engineering, data) to deliver high-quality, fun, and impactful experiences.

• Work with fellow designers to ensure metagame features and systems integrate cohesively with core gameplay and the wider game ecosystem.

• Stay informed on F2P trends in monetization and player engagement, and share relevant insights with the team.

• Bring fresh thinking and genre-leading ideas to the Candy Crush metagame, staying ahead of trends in casual F2P design.

Skills

• Proven Experience in Live F2P Metagame Design (Required): You have hands-on experience designing and running live metagame features and systems, such as progression, achievements, or social mechanics, for casual mobile free-to-play games. You understand the rhythms of live content, player motivation, and what keeps players coming back day after day.

• Feature Ownership & Strategic Delivery: You’ve owned or significantly contributed to metagame features or systems that drove long-term engagement in live casual games, from strategic framing through live release and iteration.

• Systems & Economy Thinking** : ** You understand how to design and balance interconnected features and systems, progression, rewards, pacing, and player motivation, and can reason about how a change in one system ripples through the wider economy and player behavior.

• Data-Driven & Insight-Led: You’re comfortable diving into quantitative and qualitative player data, identifying patterns, and turning insights into meaningful design improvements.

• Player-Centric Mindset: You design for joy and motivation, and you’re excited to test, learn, and iterate with real player feedback.

• Collaborative & Structured Communicator: You’re a clear communicator who builds alignment across disciplines and helps teams rally behind great ideas.

• Craft Leadership & Mentorship: You share learnings with other designers, mentor less experienced colleagues, and help raise the bar for metagame design across the team.

Bonus points

• Experience working on match-3, merge, or social mobile games with large, active live playerbases.

• Experience designing progression systems, achievements, seasonal structures, or social gameplay loops at scale.

• Familiarity with economy balancing, live ops systems, or content pipelines.

• Knowledge of match-3 puzzle mechanics and how core gameplay systems (levels, boosters, board mechanics) connect to metagame and live features.

About King

With a mission of Making the World Playful, King is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world with more than 20 years of history of delivering some of the world’s most iconic games in the mobile gaming industry, including the world-famous Candy Crush franchise, as well as other mobile titles such as Farm Heroes Saga. Around 200 million people play a King game every month. King, part of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), has Kingsters in Stockholm, Malmö, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Malta. More information can be found at King.com or by following us on LinkedIn and @lifeatking on Instagram.