Lead Features Designer

Global Sports Jobs Limited; Manchester; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mentoring & training

Onboarding program

Continuous improvement

Job summary

Playdemic’s Golf Clash team seeks a Lead Features Designer to steer a skilled design group, shaping new features and systems from concept to launch and iteration. You will collaborate with Product, Production and Art to ensure features meet goals and player value, while mentoring teammates and guiding design priorities.

The role emphasizes balancing game economies, analyzing KPIs, and delivering high‑quality design across disciplines for a globally popular title.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a game development studio.
• Experience owning and delivering multiple features or systems within a live service release cadence.
• Strong experience designing features and systems for mobile free-to-play live service games.
• Experience mentoring or guiding other designers to improve team output.
• Strong experience balancing game systems and economies, with excellent Excel skills.
• Analytical mindset with understanding of KPIs and success metrics to drive design decisions.
• Knowledge of game development tools including Confluence and JIRA.
• Excellent communication and ability to articulate design goals across disciplines.
• Experience collaborating with Product and Production teams.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Product to ideate new features and systems.
• Lead design and development of features from concept through launch and iteration.
• Define objectives, player value, and success criteria for features.
• Create and maintain clear feature documentation.
• Guide development through implementation with cross-disciplinary teams.
• Review design output to maintain high standards.
• Mentor designers to develop their skills.
• Prioritise feature development with Product and Production.
• Use data and feedback to evaluate performance and inform iteration.

Skills

Game design

Team leadership

Mentoring

Analytics

Excel

Confluence

JIRA

KPIs & metrics

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Degree level education

Tools

Confluence

JIRA

Job description

About the Role

This is a Lead Features Designer role within the Golf Clash team at Playdemic, responsible for leading the feature design team and driving the design of new features and systems. The role involves facilitating collaboration with Product, Production, Art, and other disciplines to take features from concept through to launch and iteration. The designer will guide, support and review the work of designers, and once settled in, play a key role in shaping feature priorities and ensuring successful feature outcomes. Following a comprehensive onboarding experience, this is an opportunity to help shape the future of a globally successful game enjoyed by millions.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaboratively drive ideation of new features and systems with the product management team.
• Lead the design and development of features from concept through launch and iteration, ensuring they align with product goals and design direction.
• Define clear design objectives, player value and success criteria for features, using these to guide development and evaluate outcomes post-launch.
• Create and maintain clear, efficient and legible feature documentation.
• Guide feature development through implementation, collaborating closely with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure quality execution.
• Review and provide feedback on design output within the feature design team, helping to maintain high standards of design quality, communication and delivery.
• Support and mentor designers within the team, helping them to develop their skills and improve their work.
• Help prioritise feature development in collaboration with product management and production.
• Use player behaviour, feedback and data insights to evaluate feature performance, and to inform iteration, optimisation and design decisions.
• Help establish and maintain strong design practices across the feature team.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• A minimum of 5 years’ experience working in a Game Development studio.
• Experience working on live games with a proven track record of owning and delivering multiple features or systems within the constraints of a release schedule.
• Strong experience designing features and systems for mobile free-to-play live service games.
• Experience leading, mentoring or guiding other designers and helping to improve team output.
• Strong experience designing and balancing game systems and economies, supported by excellent Excel skills.
• Strong understanding of analytics, KPIs and success metrics, and how they can be used to support design decisions, evaluate feature performance and drive optimisation.
• Technical skills and knowledge of game development tools including Confluence and JIRA.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate design goals, trade-offs and requirements across disciplines.
• Ability to review work, provide clear feedback and maintain high bar for design quality.
• Experience working collaboratively across Product and Production and amessage, five?

Preferred Skills

• Prior experience working on sports or competitive multiplayer titles.
• Experience using experimentation, analytics and player behaviour data to optimise feature performance post‑launch.
• Educated to degree level

Benefits & Perks

• Provision of any mentoring and training required to perform the role.
• Commitment to constantly improving working practices and collective knowledge through training and support.
• Comprehensive onboarding experience.