Senior Systems Designer – contract until Jan 2027

We are Media Molecule, a multi-award winning game developer and part of the wider PlayStation Studios group. We have a history of creating outstanding games such as LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway and most recently, the BAFTA Award winning Dreams. Come join us at our gorgeous, newly refurbished studio in central Guildford!

We are looking for a talented Senior Systems Designer to join our creative Design team on a contract basis (inside IR35).  With a passion for problem-solving, you will play a key role helping to implement our systems and balance progression whilst guarding our overall vision.

You will be working with an empowered team who inspires and challenges one another in a respectful and safe environment to achieve maximum results. This contract will require a minimum of 2 days per week onsite in the Guildford studio.

Your Responsibilities...

• Apply your sharp systems knowledge to refine & implement robust & scalable systems, spot edge cases early and highlight potential issues or synergies with other systems

• When necessary, create accessible prototypes & clear system user flows to illustrate your ideas and help inform design documentation

• Use your insights to identify data points to validate a design’s success or failure, and the dials required to adjust accordingly
• Own the balance of your systems and how they work within the overall game progression goals, in collaboration with the principal system designer and analytics team
• Continuously play the game and contribute insights on how to improve it
• Collaborate with Mm’s design and engineering teams to navigate technical limitations and proactively identify risks, and roadblocks.  Propose innovative solutions and present progress against quality, scope and game vision alignment goals
• Provide technical reference for the wider design team, evaluate features, settings and share best practices in production workflows
• Rapidly respond to and iterate on player feedback & telemetry to increase the quality of the player experience, whilst maintaining the vision of the game  

• Champion a mindset of innovation and continuous improvement, proactively reviewing, improving and evolving Mm’s design tools, processes and pipelines

You will…
 

• Have hands on systems design experience and technical knowledge, including schema creation, in-engine implementation & tuning
• Be a strong critical and analytical thinker, with an eye for detail and opportunity, especially when it comes to tweaking the system or balancing for best effect
• Have shipped or worked on at least one AAA console game, built on a custom engine
• Economy balancing or modelling experience a bonus!

• Be a self-starter with the ability to self- motivate and thrive in an agile environment
• Have been through the User Testing process, championing it alongside data informed design
• Be a great collaborator and communicator – you thrive when talking to the team, solving problems together and sharing the output of your combined work in a playable build

This is a broad role that will appeal to experienced designers who enjoy thinking about psychology, UX, progression & pacing, as well as the ability to communicate clearly with designers, producers and engineers.