Senior Systems Designer (Metagame) - Unannounced Project

ZYNGA INC; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A global gaming company in London is seeking a Senior Systems Designer to lead metagame design for a new mobile project. The ideal candidate has experience in free-to-play gaming, particularly in live-ops environments. They will work closely with development teams to drive design strategies and create engaging player experiences while enjoying competitive perks, including a hybrid work schedule and generous parental leave policies.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Discretionary annual bonus

Paid maternity/adoption leave

Paid paternity leave

Pension plan

Private medical insurance

Life insurance

Mental health support

Fitness reimbursement plan

Social events

Qualifications

• Experience as a metagame designer in the free-to-play market.
• Experience designing for a live-ops game.
• Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate.

Responsibilities

• Identify features to support the success of the game.
• Create design and get buy-in for major game systems.
• Present and communicate your designs to project leads.

Skills

Metagame design experience

Live-ops game design

Key performance indicators understanding

Data-driven solutions

Collaboration across disciplines

Job description

Senior Systems Designer (Metagame) - Unannounced Project

London, UK

Overview

Level Up Your Career with Zynga! At Zynga, we bring people together through the power of play. As a global leader in interactive entertainment and a proud label of Take-Two Interactive, our games have been downloaded over 6 billion times—connecting players in 175+ countries through fun, strategy, and a little friendly competition. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in California, our teams span North America, Europe, and Asia, working together to craft unforgettable gaming experiences. Whether you\'re spinning, strategizing, matching, or competing, Zynga is where fun meets innovation—and where you can take your career to the next level. Join us and be part of the play!

Position Overview

We are looking for an experienced metagame designer to join us at NaturalMotion/Zynga to help build a new, unannounced mobile free-to-play action game. As a senior systems/metagame designer, you will oversee the development of meta-features and systems that will excite and engage our players, and help define the game’s design in close collaboration with the development team.

In this function, you will be tasked with helping to design individual features, as well overseeing the harmonious integration of new systems within the existing framework of the game. Your experience on past projects will allow you to clearly articulate feature designs that are extensible, tunable, and live-ops ready. Finally, as a senior metagame designer, you will support and guide other team members to develop better understanding of metagame design expertise so that everyone can better understand the integration and impact of the design decisions you make.

We embrace a hybrid work environment. Within this role you will work 2 days per week in our London office and the remaining days at home.

What You'll Do

• Working closely with the development team, as well as product and analytics stakeholders to identify features that will support and grow the success of the game, helping shape roadmap strategy and prioritization.
• Creating design and getting buy-in for major game systems that marry KPI and design goals, while accounting for interactions with existing features and the game’s economy.
• Clearly present and communicate your designs to project leads and members of the development team.
• Developing extensible and data-driven solutions that can be easily operated in a live-ops environment.

What You Bring

• Experience as a metagame designer in the free-to-play market, preferably from the mobile gaming industry.
• Experience designing for a live-ops game with a strong understanding of key performance indicators and analytics.
• Experience in creating deep meta-systems with the ability to define data-structures and tuning parameters.
• Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with stakeholders across multiple disciplines, including the development team, analytics, product

Bonus Points

• Working within a live-ops environment; collaborating with analytics to understand user behaviour and react to live data.
• Experience working with action-oriented mid-core titles.

What We Offer You

• Competitive salary and discretionary annual bonus scheme
• 6 months fully paid maternity/adoption leave and 16 weeks fully paid paternity leave (eligibility criteria applies)
• Pension plan, with a double matching employer contribution
• Private medical & dental insurance and healthcare cash plan
• Life insurance, personal accident insurance and income protection
• Mental health and neurodiversity support programs
• Company Employee Stock Purchase Plan (eligibility criteria applies)
• Fitness reimbursement plan, worth £600 per annum
• Weekly happy hours, seasonal parties and monthly social events
• Annual rail season ticket advance and cycle to work scheme

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, which means we are committed to creating and celebrating diverse thoughts, cultures, and backgrounds throughout our organization. Employment with us is based on substantive ability, objective qualifications, and work ethic – not an individual’s race, creed, color, religion, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence or sex offenses, reproductive health decision, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to providing the necessary support and accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, health conditions, or impairments (subject to any local qualifying requirements) to ensure their full participation in the job application or interview process. Please contact us at [e-mail] to request any accommodations or for support related to your application for an open position.