Lead Gameplay Designer in Royal Leamington Spa

Playground Games is looking for a Lead Gameplay Designer to join our Fable team on a permanent basis.

As a first‑party Xbox Game Studio, we are passionate about making genre‑defining games that are accessible, beautiful, and, most of all, fun. We are excited to be rebooting the much‑loved Fable franchise and are expanding our diverse team to create a new classic in the action‑RPG genre.

As Lead Gameplay Designer you will develop and lead the gameplay design team, working on character‑driven gameplay systems. This is a permanent role based in our state‑of‑the‑art studio in Royal Leamington Spa. We have a hybrid work model in place with a minimum of 3 days a week in the studio. Relocation assistance is available if required.

What you’ll do:

• Establish, maintain, and evolve design processes while ensuring gameplay design work is completed on time and to a high‑quality standard.
• Guide and evaluate your team’s gameplay design work to ensure it’s creatively and technically sound, and aligned with the game’s overall vision.
• Ensure that the communication between the Gameplay Design team and other stakeholders is smooth and efficient.
• Develop the skills and talent of the Gameplay Design team, carrying performance reviews and owning line management duties.
• Be responsible for the tasks and bugs of the Gameplay Design team, and work with other stakeholders to help define and prioritize them.
• Deputize for the Design Director, when required.

What you’ll bring:

• Proven success working on character‑driven gameplay systems such as locomotion, combat, camera, and AI.
• Experience working within AAA Studios.
• A strong creative sensibility and the ability to elevate your team’s work through constructive feedback.
• Ideally contributed to at least one third‑person melee action game, preferably open world.
• A flexible, highly‑motivated, team‑player attitude.
• A good understanding of technical considerations, with the ability to communicate with technical team members.
• A genuine passion for video games.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a world‑class game with an established, talented, and collaborative team at one of the industry’s most exciting first‑party game studios. Playground Games is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity and inclusion fuels creativity. We are dedicated to creating a safe, comfortable and welcoming working environment. We strive to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices of our team members. It drives our innovation and connects us closer to our players. We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion across age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. At Playground Games we recognise the importance of self‑development, career progression, well‑being and retention of our colleagues. We celebrate difference and welcome everyone to join us and to be themselves at work.