Lead Game Designer

YOUR ROLE

As a Lead Game Designer at PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions, you’ll play a critical role in shaping and clarifying the gameplay vision for our projects. You'll work closely with Brendan Greene (PLAYERUNKNOWN) and the wider leadership team to interpret high-level creative direction into actionable, buildable systems, creating space for the team’s best ideas while ensuring they’re in service of the game’s core goals.

We’re looking for a builder, translator and strong collaborator with expertise in system design and emergent gameplay to lead game design efforts for our current and upcoming titles.

Your Responsibilities

• Champion systemic and emergent gameplay, balancing open-ended play with clear structure and pacing.
• Own and evolve the game design process for our projects, from idea to implementation.
• Collaborate with the creative, tech, art, and production leads to align design with project scope and technical realities.
• Communicate design clearly through specs, whiteboxing, diagrams, and hands-on implementation when needed.
• Help to identify opportunities and constraints within the engine and toolset, partnering with programmers to build workable pipelines.
• Represent design in planning discussions, roadmap setting, and milestone delivery.

YOUR PROFILE

• At least 1–2 shipped titles in a senior or lead design role, ideally on open world, FPS or sandbox projects
• Experience building, leading and mentoring a team of designers.
• Experience owning core gameplay or systems design across a full production cycle.
• Strong written and visual communication with the ability to understand complex design systems and articulate them clearly and efficiently.
• Comfortable navigating production constraints and negotiating across disciplines.
• Familiarity with modern game editors and toolchains (Unreal/Blueprints or equivalent).
• Experience working on projects of a ~50–100 people scale (AA or above).

Nice-to-have Skills

• A background in modding/player created content, or games with emergent gameplay.
• Technical awareness around scripting, systems design, and pipelines.
• Experience working in a new IP or with an evolving creative vision.
• Prior work in or around a proprietary engine.

LOCATION

Hybrid (within The Netherlands) or fully remote within Europe.

About Us

At PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions we believe in a flexible work environment driven by honesty and transparency, empowering both developers and researchers to build the tools that can form the foundation of a new generation of interactive worlds. We are a passionate team of committed individuals from all over the world, working towards building the kind of experience that is only now becoming possible. We believe that the longstanding dream of a massive, immersive world where players are free to do whatever they want is closer than ever before, and we believe that we can make it happen.

PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions is an independent development studio based in Amsterdam, focused on creating massive sandbox worlds. Our multi-disciplinary team is using an array of new and emerging technologies to push the envelope of what is possible with open worlds in gaming. Our goal is to build deep, systemic playgrounds on a planetary scale, populated by thousands of players.

MELBA Team is PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions’ applied research division. Project Melba is a new simulation engine being built from the ground up, utilizing data-driven design, multi-core processing and machine learning at its foundation in order to power virtual worlds on a scale beyond the capabilities of current technology.

BENEFITS (All)

• 13th month salary Enjoy a 13th month of salary at the end of the year for a little extra holiday money. If you haven’t been with us a full year, you’ll still get a pro-rata bonus based on how long you’ve been employed.
• Learning & development budget Spend up to €1,500 per year on training, workshops, courses, books, and workbooks that support your professional development.
• Extra time off An extra day off for your birthday and the studio anniversary (Oct 1), studio shut down over the Christmas break.
• Games allowance One game of your choice each month added to your library!
• Company events Summer party, Christmas party & others!

BENEFITS (Netherlands):

• Health insurance contribution
• Pension contribution
• 25+ vacation days (+extra studio days off)
• Hybrid work scheme
• Travel allowance
• Equipment provided
• Lunch & home-office allowances
• Studio perks (gym, social events)

BENEFITS (Remote within Europe):

• Local contracts
• Vacation days in line with your country
• Regular visits to Amsterdam with travel & accommodation covered for key studio events
• Equipment provided
• Home-office budget
• Additional country-specific benefits depending on your country of residence.

Thinking about applying but not sure you tick every box?

No problem - neither did most of us when we applied. At PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions, we value potential. If this role excites you, we’d love to hear from you. Diverse perspectives make our team stronger and our games better, and we know that people in some groups tend to count themselves out applying for roles when they think they don't tick every box. If this sounds like you, we encourage you to apply. You might be exactly who we’re looking for!