Lead Game Designer

Who are we?

Hypersonic Labs is building HELIX, the ultimate open-world multiplayer sandbox. We are a remote-first, international team and have raised $11M from top gaming VCs.

About the role

We’re seeking a Lead Game Designer to lead the design effort on our open-world metaverse game. As the Lead Game Designer, you will work closely with the creative leadership team, gameplay engineers, and art departments to craft an immersive, engaging, and innovative gameplay experience. Your role will encompass everything from high-level systems design to hands-on feature development, ensuring a cohesive player experience across various gameplay elements, including player activities, combat, progression systems, and in-game economies.

You will lead a small design team, collaborating with other department leads to ensure that gameplay systems align with our vision for the game. The ideal candidate can balance creativity with practical execution and has experience working on large-scale, open-world games.

This is a remote position, open to candidates who are based in the UK and Europe.

What you will be doing

• Leading the design and creative direction for our open-world game, ensuring all gameplay systems (combat, progression, multiplayer modes, player activities, etc.) align with the overall vision.

• Collaborating with the creative director, game director, senior producer, gameplay engineering lead, and art teams to build a cohesive, high-quality player experience.

• Developing and iterating on core gameplay systems, including in-game economies, progression mechanics, and multiplayer experiences.

• Overseeing and mentoring a small team of two other designers, providing clear direction and feedback to ensure design quality, consistency and delivery of design assets.

• Translating high-level creative goals into actionable design systems, from initial concept through to polished implementation.

• Defining and maintaining design documentation, ensuring all systems and features are thoroughly detailed and accessible to the wider team.

• Proactively identifying risks in gameplay design and implementation and collaborating with the engineering, production and QA teams to find solutions.

• Staying up-to-date with industry trends and player feedback to continuously improve the design and overall player experience.

What we will need from you

• Experience in game design, with at least one shipped open-world or multiplayer title.

• Proven experience in designing and implementing complex gameplay systems, including progression, combat, in-game economies, and multiplayer modes.

• Strong understanding of player motivation and behavioral patterns in online games.

• Demonstrated experience leading design teams, providing mentorship, and fostering creativity.

• Ability to work cross-disciplinarily with engineering, art, and production teams to achieve goals.

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and the ability to clearly articulate design decisions. A calm demeanor, conducive to productive collaboration.

• Familiarity with Unreal Engine (experience with Unreal Engine 5 is a plus).

• Experience with scripting or working closely with engineers to implement gameplay features.

Nice to have

• Experience with metaverse-style games, or other sandbox, social, or open-world games.

• Knowledge of Web3 technologies, NFTs, or blockchain integration in games.

• Experience with the User Generated Content frameworks

• Experience with Machinations.io to iterate and balance without code support

• Strong familiarity with player-driven economies and social gameplay systems.