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Full Time Job

Principal Game Designer, Progression and Economy

Riot Games

Los Angeles, CA 06-16-2025
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  • Paid
  • Full Time
  • Senior (5-10 years) Experience
Job Description
All Game Designers at Riot have a base set of skills: you design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity aid in crafting in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and work with every tool at hand to innovate and iterate player-focused designs that'll delight millions around the world.
As a Principal Game Designer focused on Progression & The Economy, you'll build and maintain a thriving MMO player economy. You contribute to and connect the many elements like progression, skills, resources, goods, and trade. You help us create a stable and sustainable economy where all activities and player types are valued and balanced. You are comfortable operating in an ambiguous environment where the team owns its own goals, and where change, big and small, is a critical part of the process. You will report to the Design Director on the team.

Responsibilities:
• Contribute to a vision for the game economy that fosters player interactions and a thriving community
• Be the primary owner for a significant portion of economy and progression designs
• Create intricate rewards that enhance the overall player experience and give players satisfying long term progression and goals
• Design systems and features that foster deeper social bonds between players
• Contribute significantly to non combat focused gameplay loops like lifeskills, crafting, professions
• Design and iterate on low level details of the economy including specific content, spreadsheet management, inflow and outflow of resources
• Mentor other team members to understand and effectively collaborate towards our progression and economy goals
Required Qualifications:
• 7+ years of experience in professional Game Design
• 4+ years of experience in either Progression, Economy, Crafting systems in multiplayer games
• Has built and tuned economy and progression systems for a large scale multiplayer game
• Experience communicating and expressing complex and nuanced designs in simple ways
• Can work effectively with non design disciplines to deliver a unified and cohesive experience for players
• Can create complex mechanics and systems with attention to the player impacts and downstream effects
• Deep level of understanding of multiplayer PvE and PVP games (ARPG, MMOs, MOBAs etc.)
Desired Qualifications:
• Experience with other MMO systems like PVP rulesets, social structures, and player behavior
• Experience creating systemic change to a team's process or principles to improve output significantly across the team
• Leadership experience resolving conflict, and when needed offering difficult feedback with respect
• Is familiar with the LoL IP
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.
At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you're working directly on a new player-facing experience or you're supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we're better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we're looking forward to your application.

• (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $185,200.00 - $258,000.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-wpp91j-216-73-216-0-42 in your application.

Salary Details
Salary Range: $185,200 to $258,000 Per Year ($ USD)
Company Profile
Riot Games

Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, we released our debut title, League of Legends, to worldwide acclaim. League has gone on to be the most-played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports.