Game Designer, Strategy & Innovation

Red Games; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Play Theory, a Red Games Company, seeks a Game Designer, Strategy & Innovation who thinks beyond traditional game design. Translate client needs into concepts, mechanics, systems, and experiences that drive business results at the intersection of strategy, design, technology, and learning.

You’ll work hands-on with game design and explore emerging technologies, behavioral design, and learning to craft engaging, measurable brand experiences.

Qualifications

• Professional game design experience with ability to translate business needs into game concepts.
• Familiarity with strategy, consulting, innovation, product development, learning, or education.
• Comfort moving between high-level business conversations and detailed game systems.

Responsibilities

• Understand complex business challenges and translate them into strategic opportunities.
• Apply game design principles, mechanics, systems thinking, and behavioral design to create solutions.
• Research industries, audiences, competitors, technologies, and trends to inform concepts.
• Develop game concepts, player journeys, progression systems, and engagement loops.
• Collaborate with creative directors, engineers, UX/UI designers, producers, and others to execute ideas.
• Participate in client conversations, workshops, and presentations to identify the right solutions.
• Explore new technologies and platforms to strengthen experiences.

Skills

Game design

Strategy

Experience design

Systems thinking

Client engagement

Job description

Game Designer

About Play Theory, A Red Games Company

Play Theory is a game studio and business consultancy built around a simple idea: games can solve serious business challenges. We combine strategy, game design, technology, and creative thinking to build experiences that engage, teach, connect, and drive meaningful business results.

We work with leading brands and organizations to rethink business challenges ranging from customer engagement and loyalty to learning, training, collaboration, and entirely new digital experiences.

The Role

We’re looking for a Game Designer, Strategy & Innovation who thinks beyond traditional game design. This is a role for someone who understands the principles and systems that make games compelling, but can also step into a business challenge, quickly understand the landscape, and help develop smart, innovative solutions. You’ll work at the intersection of business strategy, game design, technology, and experience design, translating client needs and business objectives into concepts, mechanics, systems, and experiences that create measurable impact. Games will often be at the center of the solution, but your thinking shouldn’t stop there. We’re looking for someone with hands‑on experience designing games, along with experience across emerging technologies, platforms, behavioral design, learning, or other forms of interactive engagement, and the curiosity to continually explore new ways people connect with brands, content, and one another.

Job Responsibilities

• Understand complex business challenges and translate them into clear strategic and experience opportunities.
• Apply game design principles, mechanics, systems thinking, behavioral design, and game theory to develop original solutions.
• Research industries, audiences, competitors, technologies, and cultural trends to inform concepts and recommendations.
• Develop game concepts, player journeys, progression systems, engagement loops, reward structures, and other core experience frameworks.
• Collaborate closely with creative directors, strategists, engineers, UX/UI designers, producers, and other disciplines to take ideas from strategy through execution.
• Participate in client conversations, workshops, brainstorms, and presentations — listening carefully, thinking quickly, and helping teams find the right solution.
• Look beyond the obvious, bringing new technologies, platforms, and approaches into the conversation when they can make the experience stronger.

What We’re Looking For

You’re a strategic thinker and game designer in equal measure. You understand games deeply, but you’re just as interested in why a business needs an experience as you are in how that experience works.

You likely have professional game design experience along with exposure to strategy, consulting, innovation, product development, learning, education, or another business-oriented discipline. You’re comfortable moving between high‑level business conversations and detailed game systems.

Most importantly, you’re curious, collaborative, articulate, solutions‑oriented, and quick on your feet. You listen well, ask smart questions, see possibilities others may miss, and enjoy working across disciplines to turn ambiguous challenges into thoughtful, effective experiences.