As a Principal Game Designer on an unpublished R&D product, you will help shape and evolve the future of gameplay through hands-on design leadership in early-stage development. You are a gameplay generalist with deep expertise in combat and controls, and you know how to translate strong player empathy into responsive, satisfying, and strategically rich gameplay experiences.

You will personally drive some of the team's hardest design problems across combat, controls, targeting, camera, and gameplay feel. You will work closely with product managers, engineers, UX, artists, and design leaders to prototype, validate, and refine new gameplay directions, while helping establish the quality bar for how we build, evaluate, and iterate on player-facing systems.

You will work as part of a small cross-disciplinary prototype team. In this role, your work will help inform the long-term gameplay direction through experimentation, rapid iteration, and applied learning.

If you thrive in ambiguous spaces, love solving difficult gameplay problems, and care deeply about creating intuitive, resonant experiences for players, this role is for you.
Responsibilities

• Maintain a holistic vision for combat and controls while driving design vision and execution for core gameplay systems
• Personally prototype, design, and iterate on difficult gameplay problems in ambiguous, early-stage development spaces, creating multiple design approaches and articulating the tradeoffs, risks, and player implications of each
• Partner closely with product managers, engineers, UX designers, artists, and producers to turn design goals into playable, testable experiences
• Define and evolve design frameworks, principles, and quality bars that improve team decision-making and raise the standard of gameplay craft
• Lead cross-disciplinary conversations around tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities, aligning teams around strong design rationale
• Mentor other designers through feedback, craft guidance, and principled problem solving
• Contribute to broader gameplay direction by identifying learnings and opportunities that can inform future initiatives

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional experience in game design
• Deep experience designing, prototyping, and iterating on core gameplay systems
• Strong expertise in combat design, controls, targeting, camera, and gameplay feel
• Experience owning large, complex design spaces and delivering high-impact player-facing outcomes
• Experience working in ambiguous or exploratory development environments where fast learning and iteration matter
• Experience partnering closely with engineers to develop and refine gameplay systems from concept through implementation
• Ability to break down complex design problems, generate strong solutions, and clearly communicate design rationale across disciplines

Desired Qualifications

• Expertise with designing for twin-stick controls
• Experience mentoring designers and giving clear cross-disciplinary feedback that raises the craft bar for a team
• Experience leading strategically important gameplay features and establishing frameworks or principles that improve team-wide quality and consistency
• Experience helping teams evolve established gameplay systems and development practices through thoughtful adoption of AI-native tools and workflows
• Experience using scripting or engine-level tools to prototype gameplay ideas directly

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!
Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.