Gaming Full-Time Hybrid

Principal Designer

Company: 2K

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $150,400 – $222,580 / Year

About the Role

2K is seeking a Principal Designer to define and elevate the player experience across AAA game projects. This leadership role combines high-level design vision with hands-on implementation, ensuring gameplay systems, mechanics, and player interactions consistently meet world-class quality standards.

Job Overview

The Principal Designer will serve as the bridge between creative direction and engineering execution, translating design intent into polished gameplay experiences. You will establish gameplay standards, define systemic frameworks, and oversee the implementation of character, camera, controls, traversal, and interaction systems across large-scale game productions.

Key Responsibilities

Design Governance: Establish gameplay rules, systems standards, and world-building frameworks that ensure consistency across all game features.
Gameplay Leadership: Define and maintain the technical implementation of character, camera, and control systems that shape the game’s core feel.
Workflow Architecture: Partner with gameplay engineering teams to optimize design workflows, tools, and engine utilization.
Hands-On Development: Directly iterate on gameplay mechanics, traversal systems, level design elements, and gameplay scripting within Unreal Engine.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with art, animation, engineering, and technical design teams to refine features and solve development challenges.
Quality Assurance: Maintain a high-quality gameplay standard and ensure shipped features deliver a polished player experience.

Qualifications

10+ years of AAA game design experience with multiple shipped titles.
Strong background in first-person or third-person blockbuster game development.
Deep expertise with Unreal Engine, including Blueprints, level streaming, and data-driven systems.
Strong understanding of gameplay systems, player progression, and game feel.
Experience creating scalable design frameworks rather than one-off gameplay features.
Excellent leadership, communication, and cross-disciplinary collaboration skills.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Game Design, Computer Science, Interactive Media, or a related field preferred.
Equivalent professional experience may be considered.
Advanced expertise in game systems design and production methodologies is highly valued.
Demonstrated history of shipping successful AAA game titles is required.