Lead Game Designer

<p><strong>Title:</strong> Lead Game Designer</p><p><strong>Location:</strong> Seattle Studio</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>About Starform</strong></p><p>Starform is a small, in-person studio on a mission to create those rare games with enough reach and depth to cross boundaries and become cultural phenomena. We stay small on purpose because we believe a focused team of the right people can outbuild a much larger one.</p><p>Our current title, <em>Metalstorm</em>, is a 5v5 real-time air-combat game with more than 17 million lifetime players.</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>About the Role</strong></p><p>You’ll own the vision and execution behind the content and systems that shape customization, progression, economy, and monetization. This is one of the studio’s highest-leverage design surfaces: early-game progression and monetization are where much of our opportunity is won or lost. You’ll work closely with the Creative Director to define the strategy and turn it into a better game.</p><p>The role is systems-first, but not systems-only. You’ll also design gameplay content—including modes, aircraft, weapons, and abilities—while tuning economic systems and guiding content creation. You’ll take features from concept through launch and live-operations tuning, making decisions based on how players actually behave.</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>What You’ll Do</strong></p><ul><li>Design and ship features from concept through launch, iteration, balancing, and live-operations tuning. You’ll own the outcome, not just the initial design.</li><li>Own key systems across gameplay, progression, economy, customization, monetization, and live operations. Design, document, and ship the systems that drive our core KPIs while treating player trust as a highly valuable asset.</li><li>Develop monetization strategies that feel rewarding and fair, giving players compelling reasons to invest in the game without compromising competitive integrity or long-term trust.</li><li>Balance depth, accessibility, competitiveness, and long-term engagement. Build systems that create meaningful aspiration and status at the right moments.</li><li>Write clear design documentation that aligns the entire team across engineering, art, QA, production, analytics, community, and marketing.</li><li>Work AI-native. Use AI tools to prototype economies, simulate balance, generate and test content variants, and run more design iterations than a human-only process allows. We expect AI to multiply your output, not replace your judgment.</li><li>Use analytics, community feedback, playtesting, and your own instincts to understand what is working and what is not. Iterate quickly based on real player behavior rather than assumptions.</li><li>Ask difficult questions and challenge assumptions, regardless of where an idea originates.</li><li>Make thoughtful tradeoffs that improve the overall game rather than optimizing individual features in isolation.</li><li>Be a trusted creative partner to the Creative Director and collaborate closely with engineering, production, art, QA, community, analytics, and product.</li><li>Raise the quality of design discussions through clear thinking, strong rationale, and a willingness to challenge ideas constructively.</li></ul><p><br /></p><p><strong>What We’re Looking For</strong></p><ul><li>7+ years of professional game-design experience, including at least 2 years in a lead role.</li><li>Experience shipping and operating live-service games, preferably free-to-play.</li><li>Deep experience in systems and monetization design, including progression, economy, live events, or competitive multiplayer.</li><li>A strong understanding of player behavior, retention, monetization, and long-term engagement.</li><li>Excellent design judgment and the ability to find clear, practical solutions to complex player problems.</li><li>Comfort making decisions with incomplete information, testing assumptions, and iterating quickly.</li><li>Outstanding communication skills, including the ability to explain design decisions clearly across disciplines.</li><li>A collaborative mindset and a desire to build the best possible game through teamwork—not simply to “own” individual features.</li><li>Hands-on experience building in Unity, Unreal, or an equivalent engine.</li><li>Strong economy-modeling skills in Excel or Google Sheets.</li><li>Comfort working with analytics platforms such as Mixpanel, Looker, Tableau, or similar tools.</li></ul><p><br /></p><p><strong>Success in This Role</strong></p><p>After your first year, you will have:</p><ul><li>Become one of the studio’s most trusted voices on design quality.</li><li>Shaped the direction of <em>Metalstorm</em> through thoughtful, data-informed decisions.</li><li>Shipped meaningful improvements to the systems that drive player engagement, progression, and monetization.</li><li>Built strong working partnerships across engineering, art, product, QA, analytics, community, and production.</li><li>Consistently raised the quality of the game through both your own contributions and your influence on the broader team.</li></ul><p><br /></p><p><strong>Equal Opportunity Statement</strong></p><p>Starform is proud to provide equal opportunities in the workplace and to build a culture that is safe, respectful, fair and inclusive for all of our employees.</p><p><br /></p>