About this role
Job title: Design Manager
About the Role Riot Games is seeking a Design Manager with deep game-design fundamentals to craft a brand-new game. As the design team's core pillar, you will architect macro-level systems including the economy, social ecosystem, and core combat. The challenge is to establish IP world-building while delivering long-lived, innovative gameplay that exceeds market standards.
What You'll Do
- Strategic planning and top-level architecture: as part of the core decision-making group, collaborate with producers to define the product's core vision, market positioning, and long-term strategy; set the macro design direction (core loops, monetization model, social structure) and ensure alignment with business value and IP core; build competitive barriers.
- Innovation: identify pain points in related genres; go beyond replication by proposing forward-looking design concepts that deliver differentiated experiences and satisfy deep user needs.
- Execution & cross-functional leadership: translate macro strategy into actionable design; clearly communicate to the planning team and ensure integration into the game's experience. Resource integration: act as the design team's hub, building trusted collaborations with engineers, art, IP, and publishing to ensure core systems are delivered on time and to high standards.
- Team leadership & development: establish high-standard design workflows, documentation norms, and review mechanisms; cultivate an efficient, transparent, knowledge-capturing team culture. Lead recruitment, growth, and mentorship to elevate the planning team's capability.
What We're Looking For
- 8+ years of game design experience; 3+ years in core development and long-term live ops, including leading roles.
- 3+ years of team management and building teams.
- Thorough understanding of underlying game mechanics; ability to analyze trends and deliver innovative designs that break conventional patterns.
- Excellent cross-functional collaboration, strong logical thinking, and ability to lead with clear communication.
- Experience with at least two mainstream mobile games.
Nice to Have
- Experience leading a product with annual revenue in the hundreds of millions.
- Global product development or operations experience.
- Fluent English; comfortable in an international work environment.
- Strong mathematical modeling ability; capable of validating complex numerical systems.
- Familiar with classic standalone games or Riot's universe; priority for those with Riot knowledge.