Senior Game Designer Speculative Application

Sports Interactive is the studio behind Football Manager. Founded in 1994, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA Europe in 2006. Located at Here East in Stratford, East London, the studio supports growth by connecting with passionate people who share our ambitions and initiative to realise individual potential.

Sports Interactive are looking for a talented Senior Game Designer to join the studio and work on the Football Manager franchise. You will be responsible for taking ownership of and driving the latest feature designs for Football Manager projects, coordinating with stakeholders to ensure quality throughout development. Typical activities include defining features, systems and interfaces to feed the football simulation with more quality, depth and authenticity. You will join an ambitious team focused on delivering an outstanding Football Manager experience. The ideal candidate is proactive, self-motivated, and creative, with strong communication, solid design methodology, and the ability to drive features from inception to delivery in a cross-disciplinary team.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and design engaging, complex gameplay features and systems from concept to release to deliver the highest quality Football Manager experience.
• Define feature goals, player experience, constraints, and success criteria in collaboration with design and creative leadership.
• Collaborate closely with UI/UX and Narrative Designers on feature proposals and definition.
• Produce and maintain high quality documentation and champion upcoming design features with Production, Engineering, QA and Communications teams.
• Pro-actively identify design risks and opportunities, proposing solutions and improvements.
• Contribute to the wider game vision, proposing key ideas and game improvements to creative leadership to help shape the feature roadmap.
• Collaborate with design leadership in defining and delivering qualitative design methodologies such as test plans, prototyping, user-testing, analytics and iterative development.
• Implement content, define tooling requirements, tune data and help balance systems directly in Unity when required.
• Mentor and support less experienced designers through feedback, reviews and knowledge sharing.
• Evaluate released features using player feedback, telemetry and internal reviews, and identify opportunities for future improvements.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Systems-driven game designer with appreciation for complexity, depth, and simulation-heavy topics, with a strong understanding of balance, progression and emergent gameplay.
• Autonomous and proactive, capable of driving feature quality and alignment across distributed cross-disciplinary teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for effective collaboration with other Designers, Software Engineers, Artists, Animators, QA and Producers.
• Comfortable interpreting quantitative data and player feedback to inform design decisions.
• Passion for football and video game development, with good knowledge of Football Manager.
• Strong understanding of game design and UX principles for PC-first experiences.
• Exceptional attention to detail and a methodical approach to design.
• Experience shipping at least one commercial title through a full development cycle, ideally within simulation or systems-heavy genres.
• Experience in a Senior role including mentorship and/or people management is beneficial.
• Experience with modern game development tools and engines such as Unity or similar.
• Advanced proficiency with Excel and other data-driven analysis and balancing tools.
• Proficient with Miro, PowerPoint and the Atlassian suite (Confluence, Jira, Jira Product Discovery).
• Computer science, game design or related educational background would be beneficial.

Benefits and Working at Sports Interactive

• Private Healthcare and Dental Plans
• Gym memberships and on-site wellbeing facilities
• Travel Insurance for you and your family
• Contributory Pension Scheme
• Events with partnered football clubs and social activities
• On-site amenities including breakfast bar and staff benefits
• Flexible working hours and supportive environment
• Equal opportunities employer and inclusive recruitment process

We approach work with passion for the football industry and positive impact. We value talent and teamwork and encourage growth and realising your full potential. All roles require a level of studio attendance for collaboration. We are a London Living Wage employer with low staff turnover and a commitment to equal opportunities and accessibility. Our values emphasize collaboration, flexibility, tenacity, ambition, passion, and considering the bigger picture. We offer a range of programs and activities through SEGA and our partners, with a focus on creating an engaging, inclusive, and motivating workplace.