Sr. Competitive Systems Designer (Apex Legends)

Electronic Arts Ltd; West Chatsworth (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Respawn is seeking a Senior Systems Designer - Competitive Systems to shape how players compete in Apex Legends. You will design and evolve systems supporting Ranked progression, matchmaking, leaderboards, and rewards, collaborating with Design, Analytics, UX, Engineering, and Esports.

You will balance performance, fairness, and long-term engagement across a wide range of skill levels, using telemetry and live-service learnings to iterate features from concept through live operation.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional game design experience owning progression, scoring, competitive structures, or live-service features.
• Experience designing Ranked modes, rating systems, ladders, tournaments, and other competitive systems.
• Strong implementation skills including scripting and prototyping using in-house tools and platform.

Responsibilities

• Design and own major competitive systems for Apex Legends, including Ranked progression, matchmaking-related features, scoring, and competitive rewards for both seasonal, annual and lifetime career cycles.
• Develop new competitive formats, limited-time modes, and structured competition beyond Ranked play.
• Define competitive goals, rules, progression, eligibility, and recognition to motivate players across all skill levels.
• Partner with Matchmaking, Analytics, Anti-Cheat, and Esports to ensure match quality, integrate integrity systems to deter abuse, and connect in-game competitive structures to ALGS and professional pathways.
• Balance competitive accuracy with queue times, accessibility, social play, and long-term engagement.
• Use telemetry, feedback, and live-service learnings to define metrics, evaluate outcomes, and iterate on features.
• Collaborate across UX, Matchmaking, Analytics, Anti-Cheat, Engineering, Esports, and Community teams to align on design intent, ensure competitive integrity, evaluate player outcomes, and support cross-functional goals.
• Prototype, implement, tune, and support features throughout development and live service operations.

Skills

Ranked modes design

MMR concepts

Live-service features

Text scripting

Data-driven design

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Tools

In-house tools

Job description

Senior Systems Designer - Competitive Systems

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

Founded in 2010 by the original creators of the Call of Duty Franchise, Respawn was created with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom, they'll make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. From our roots as an indie studio to joining the expansive roster of studios at Electronic Arts, this remains our guiding principle. We truly love what we do and want to share our passion with players worldwide. Our shipped titles include critically acclaimed multi-platform games Apex Legends, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Star Wars™ Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars™ Jedi: Survivor and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Join us for the opportunity to create groundbreaking games with some of the best developer talent in the industry.

Why This Role Matters

Respawn is looking for a Senior Systems Designer - Competitive Systems to help shape how players compete in Apex Legends.

In this role, you will design and evolve systems that support competitive play across Apex, including Ranked, matchmaking, competitive progression, leaderboards, scoring, rewards, and new ways for players to test their skill.

You will work across Design, Product Management, Analytics, UX, Engineering, Production, and other partner teams to create competitive experiences that feel fair, understandable, motivating, and rewarding for players across a wide range of skill levels.

Responsibilities

• Design and own major competitive systems for Apex Legends, including Ranked progression, matchmaking-related features, scoring, and competitive rewards for both seasonal, annual and lifetime career cycles.
• Develop new competitive formats, limited-time modes, and structured competition beyond Ranked play.
• Define competitive goals, rules, progression, eligibility, and recognition to motivate players across all skill levels.
• Partner with Matchmaking, Analytics, Anti-Cheat, and Esports to ensure match quality, integrate integrity systems to deter abuse, and connect in-game competitive structures to ALGS and professional pathways.
• Balance competitive accuracy with queue times, accessibility, social play, and long-term engagement.
• Use telemetry, feedback, and live-service learnings to define metrics, evaluate outcomes, and iterate on features.
• Collaborate across UX, Matchmaking, Analytics, Anti-Cheat, Engineering, Esports, and Community teams to align on design intent, ensure competitive integrity, evaluate player outcomes, and support cross-functional goals.
• Prototype, implement, tune, and support features throughout development and live service operations.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional game design experience owning progression, scoring, competitive structures, or live-service features.
• Experience designing Ranked modes, rating systems, ladders, tournaments, and other competitive systems.
• Familiarity with MMR, skill-rating systems, matchmaking constraints, and competitive matchmaking concepts.
• Proven track record of taking features from concept through implementation, scripting, technical prototyping, tuning, launch, and live iteration.
• Strong implementation skills including text scripting and ability to create prototypes using in-house tools and platform
• Deep understanding of complex multiplayer systems, live-service needs, and player motivations, with the ability to reason about skill, progression, incentives, fairness, and player perception.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort using data to evaluate design problems and outcomes.
• Strong communication and cross-disciplinary collaboration skills across Engineering, Analytics, UX, Product, and Production.

Nice to Have

• Experience with seasonal resets, placement systems, rank decay, promotion systems, or competitive reward structures.
• Experience with anti-smurfing, boosting prevention, competitive integrity, or alternate competitive formats.
• Familiarity with esports ecosystems and connecting professional competition with broader player systems.
• Deep familiarity with Apex Legends, its Ranked ecosystem, or large-scale battle royale games.

Pay Transparency - North America

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business