{"id":1981987,"url":"https://alion.io/job/gardens-technical-game-designer-level","title":"Technical Game Designer (Level)","company":{"id":204548,"name":"Gardens","domain":"gardens.lv","url":"https://alion.io/company/gardens","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Games","role_family":"Games","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":{"label":"UTC-8 – UTC-5","utc_offset_min":-8,"utc_offset_max":-5},"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US","CA"],"hiring_countries_total":2,"salary":{"min":148000,"max":164000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":164000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Unreal Engine","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-06T23:21:20Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-06","last_verified_at":"2026-10-10T22:49:06Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":4,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":4},"description":"At Gardens Interactive, we're building games centered on connection, collective adventure, and emergent stories. We believe the spirit with which we build games is reflected in the experiences our players have. The way we collaborate, solve problems, navigate uncertainty, and care for one another ultimately shapes the worlds we create. We're creating magical, shared experiences that bring players together and we know those experiences come from teams that are curious, resilient, ambitious, and deeply committed to one another.\nWe're a fully remote studio that embraces collaboration, thoughtful iteration, and the courage to explore new ideas. If you're excited by solving difficult problems with kind, talented teammates, and want to help build worlds where friendships flourish, we'd love to meet you.\nAs a Technical Level Designer, you will create worlds and sandboxes filled with opportunities to play. You are a level designer by craft, with the technical skills to build gameplay features in Unreal Engine using Blueprints and/or C++.\nYou will create new world affordances: gameplay verbs, activities, challenges, and interactions that invite players to experiment and engage with their surroundings. You will prototype, validate, iterate on, and deliver these features, then use them to build levels that encourage exploration, problem-solving, and memorable multiplayer moments.\nA Day In The Life:\nRapidly prototype and validate new gameplay verbs, activities, and environmental interactions in Unreal Engine for online multiplayer.\n\nBuild and refine levels using the mechanics and tools you create alongside existing systems, hazards, and enemies.\n\nPlaytest with the team to understand how players discover and use these affordances, then refine levels and features to encourage experimentation and memorable moments.\n\nWhat You’ll Do:\nOwn the design, implementation, debugging, polish, and maintenance of interactive world features and environmental gameplay toys that offer new choices, challenges, and benefits. Creature and NPC behaviors are outside this role.\n\nBuild levels from blockout through delivery, shaping flow, pacing, navigation, and readability across exploration, puzzles, traversal, and encounters.\n\nCreate reusable, configurable gameplay components and tools that help designers build and iterate on levels efficiently.\n\nRapidly prototype and playtest ideas to validate their potential, refine features, and manage scope and complexity.\n\nCollaborate across disciplines to align with design direction, integrate player abilities and creature encounters, and meet technical requirements.\n\nPartner with Engineering to resolve performance issues and ensure reliable multiplayer behavior.\n\nKeep implementations organized and document features and tools so the team can use, tune, and maintain them.\n\nWhat You’ll Bring:\nStrong level design fundamentals in spatial composition, flow, pacing, and player guidance for open-world exploration and multiplayer play.\n\nAt least one shipped game as a level designer on a multidisciplinary team.\n\nProficiency in Unreal Engine Blueprints and/or C++, with the ability to independently prototype, implement, and debug gameplay features.\n\nExperience building levels and authoring collision and navigation in Unreal Engine.\n\nStrong playtesting and iteration habits, with an understanding of how design shapes player behavior, cooperation, and relationships.\n\nClear communication, strong collaboration, and the judgment to work independently, recognize constraints, and seek support when needed.\n\nNice to Have:\nExperience building reusable level design tools, modular gameplay kits, or procedural workflows in Unreal Engine.\n\nExperience designing systemic puzzles, physics-based interactions, or environmental features that support multiple solutions and emergent multiplayer play.\n\nExperience profiling and optimizing gameplay scripts and level content.\n\nThe Team:\nThis role reports to the Design Manager.\n\nHow We Work\nWe believe great games are built by people who care deeply about both the work and one another. Our values guide how we collaborate, solve problems, make decisions, and grow together. They're practical behaviors, not slogans, and they're part of how we hire, give feedback, and support one another every day.\nWe're looking for teammates who are excited to:\nStay curious and ask thoughtful questions.\n\nAdapt when plans change.\n\nExercise good judgment rather than chase perfection.\n\nCare for the success of the whole team, not just their own work.\n\nPursue ambitious goals while remaining humble enough to keep learning.\n\nCommit fully to the shared adventure we're building together.\n\nYou'll Thrive Here If...\nYou enjoy asking questions before jumping to conclusions.\n\nYou adapt comfortably when priorities evolve.\n\nYou balance ambition with pragmatism.\n\nYou communicate thoughtfully and seek feedback.\n\nYou care about helping your teammates succeed.\n\nYou embrace uncertainty as part of creating something new.\n\nPlease Note: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada. Gardens cannot assist with work authorizations or work visas. Applicants must also be willing to work within North American time zones (EST-PST).\nOur Interview Process\n(all interviews are 1 hour video calls on Google Meet unless otherwise noted)\nStep 1: People Operations Introduction\n\nStep 2: Hiring Manager Interview\n\nStep 3: Panel Interview (3 - 1 Hour Sections)\n\nStep 4: Gardeners Debrief\n\nStep 5: Offer\n\nLife at Gardens\nGardens is a fully distributed game studio founded by creators behind titles including Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Blaseball, Dustforce, Ashen, Guild Wars 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more.\nWe're developing our flagship project: a multiplayer fantasy adventure inspired by the friendships, discoveries, and unforgettable stories that emerge when people explore together.\nWe believe the best ideas come from teams with diverse experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, and ways of thinking. Every Gardener helps shape not only what we build, but how we build it.\nEach of us arrives by a different path, bringing unique experiences, perspectives, and ways of seeing the world. That range is part of what makes our games and our studio better than any one of us could build alone.\nGardens Offers:\nCompetitive salaries and pay transparency\n\nStock options\n\nMedical, dental, and vision coverage (100% for individuals, 90% for dependents)\n\nLife insurance, short-term and long-term disability, and additional benefits\n\n401(k) contributions (U.S.) / RRSP + DPSP contributions (Canada)\n\nPaid parental leave\n\nA fully distributed remote studio across North American time zones\n\nBenefits and perks listed may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Gardens and the country in which you work.\nPhysical Requirements: This is a primarily sedentary, remote role requiring the ability to remain stationary and perform computer-based work for extended periods, including sustained use of monitors, keyboards, mice, and game controllers for a minimum of six hours per day. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role. Gardens is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.\nEncouragement: We believe that diverse perspectives make our team stronger and our games better. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every single qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway.\nResearch consistently shows that talented people, particularly women, people of color, and those from historically underrepresented communities are less likely to apply unless they meet every listed requirement. We care far more about curiosity, growth, and a willingness to learn than checking every box.\nScam Note: Unfortunately, scammers have impersonated Gardens Interactive by offering fake employment opportunities intended to collect financial information.\nOfficial communication from our team will always come from a @ gardens.dev email address. We will never ask for financial information during the hiring process.\nIf you're ever unsure whether a message is legitimate, please contact us directly through LinkedIn or ","description_format":"text","description_chars":8269,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Life insurance","Parental leave","Stock options"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"},{"name":"Canada","iso":"CA","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Game Development"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-07T00:10:29Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":3,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-10T05:45:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":164000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/gardens-technical-game-designer-level","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/gardens-technical-game-designer-level.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-11T01:16:20Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":1855,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":3145,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":204548},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=204548"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fgardens-technical-game-designer-level"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fgardens-technical-game-designer-level"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fgardens-technical-game-designer-level"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/gardens-technical-game-designer-level\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fgardens-technical-game-designer-level"}]}