Game Designer (AI-Native & Hybrid-Casual)

About the role

Playops Studio is an AI-powered mobile game studio focused on hybrid-casual experiences, combining creative game design, rapid prototyping, AI-assisted workflows and data-driven experimentation. It is looking for a hands-on, AI-first Game Designer who turns ideas into high-retention gameplay, working from early concepts through playable prototypes with a small multidisciplinary team.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and refine hybrid-casual concepts, core loops and mechanics, and turn promising ideas into clear design briefs.
• Turn ideas into playable prototypes quickly, test assumptions and improve designs through experimentation.
• Design and balance early-game progression, difficulty curves, puzzle constraints, feedback and controls.
• Test web-playable prototypes and Unity builds, identify usability issues and usability friction, and communicate practical improvements.
• Use AI-powered tools for ideation, design documentation and iteration, and collaborate with engineering and product to improve these workflows.
• Work across game design, level creation, creative testing and QA, partnering with art, engineering and product colleagues.

Required profile

• Strong understanding of casual puzzle, sorting, matching or arcade mechanics, with intuitive onboarding and compelling progression.
• Comfortable using AI tools in a practical creative workflow and willing to learn new capabilities.
• Enjoys playing rough prototypes, finding bugs and UX friction, and reporting findings clearly.
• Able to break games down into mechanics, constraints, feedback systems and progression loops.
• Takes initiative in small, fast-moving teams and contributes across multiple concepts.

Required skills

• Bonus points: familiarity with Unity, basic game balancing, level editing or web-based playable prototypes.
• A portfolio of mobile game design work or shipped titles is a plus.

What we offer

• Creative ownership and variety across several game concepts and rapid development cycles.
• Decisions based on playtesting, player feedback and performance data.
• Ground-floor impact in a close-knit team shaping the studio's games and approach.