Principal Game Designer | Candy Crush Saga

Are you a Game Design Authority and Strategic Craft Leader? We’re looking for a product-minded Principal Game Designer, someone who operates with both creative depth and strategic clarity, who can define and drive gameplay direction at scale, and who is passionate about solving meaningful player and business problems through design.

Your role within the Kingdom

As a Principal Game Designer in the Core Gameplay area of Candy Crush Saga, you will operate as a design authority across a product team and area. You will help define problem spaces, shape gameplay strategy, and influence quarterly-to-yearly objectives through design leadership and hands-on contribution. You’ll collaborate closely with Creative and Design Directors, Product Managers, UX & UI, Engineers, Artists and Data Scientists to align gameplay vision with product strategy, validate strategic bets, and ensure high-quality execution across multiple initiatives. You are expected to support and influence several teams simultaneously, while remaining actively involved in the design craft. This role is ideal for a designer who combines deep gameplay expertise with a strong product and systems mindset; someone who thinks in horizons, connects player experience to business outcomes and raises the quality bar for everyone around them.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive gameplay design strategy across a product team or area, aligned with quarterly and yearly OKRs.
• Frame, challenge and own complex problem-solution spaces, translating insights and data into clear strategic gameplay direction.
• Drive discovery and validation of high-impact strategic bets related to core gameplay experience.
• Design, review and evolve gameplay systems, mechanics and levels, ensuring they serve both long-term player value and product strategy.
• Actively contribute hands-on to design where it matters most, setting a high bar for quality, clarity, and impact.
• Promote design standards, best practices and shared frameworks that improve consistency and scalability across teams.
• Analyze performance of gameplay features and systems, using data and player feedback to guide strategic iteration and learning.
• Collaborate across disciplines to align gameplay vision, product strategy and execution across multiple initiatives.
• Coach and support senior and junior designers, providing feedback, guidance and mentorship to grow individual and team capability.
• Actively participate in craft communities and initiatives, helping shape the evolution of game design practice within the organization.
• Stay ahead of market trends in casual and F2P games, bringing informed perspectives that influence future gameplay direction.

Skills

• Design authority: You demonstrate deep expertise in gameplay design and can confidently set direction, make trade-offs and guide others through complex decisions.
• Strategic and product-minded: You connect gameplay decisions to long-term player value, product goals and business impact.
• Systems thinker: You excel at designing and evolving interconnected systems that scale over time.
• Analytical: You use data, research, and experimentation to validate strategy and inform high-level decisions.
• Influential collaborator: You can align and inspire multiple teams and disciplines around a shared gameplay vision.
• Player-centric: You deeply understand player motivation and behavior, and advocate for meaningful, engaging experiences.
• Comfortable with ambiguity: You thrive in loosely defined problem spaces and can bring structure and clarity where none exists.
• Strong communicator: You clearly articulate vision, intent, and rationale to stakeholders at all levels.
• Craft leader and coach: You actively develop others, share knowledge, and invest in raising the overall design bar.

Bonus points

• Extensive experience designing core gameplay systems for large-scale F2P games.
• Deep expertise in level design for large puzzle or casual games.
• Strong background or close collaboration with product design or product management.
• Experience influencing long-term gameplay strategy in live-operated products.

Why join us

At King, we design for millions, but we think about every player. As a Principal Game Designer, you’ll have the opportunity to shape not just features, but direction: influencing how Candy Crush Saga evolves, how design craft grows and how Product Teams collaborate to create meaningful player experiences at scale.

About King

With a mission of Making the World Playful, King is a leading interactive entertainment company with more than 20 years of history of delivering some of the world’s most iconic games in the mobile gaming industry, including the world-famous Candy Crush franchise, as well as other mobile game hits such as Farm Heroes Saga. King games are played by more than 200 million monthly active users. King, part of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), has Kingsters in Stockholm, Malmö, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Malta. More information can be found at King.com or by following us on LinkedIn, lifeatking on Instagram, or king_games on X.