{"id":2090274,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kinetic-games-lead-game-designer","title":"Lead Game Designer","company":{"id":680441,"name":"Kinetic Games","domain":"kineticgames.co.uk","url":"https://alion.io/company/kineticgames","size_band":"1-10","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Rippling","truth_index":null},"role":"Games","role_family":"Games","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Southampton, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":59000,"max_usd":149000,"period":"year","method":"global_role_cell_scaled_by_country","sample_n":41},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Unity","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-08T14:12:54Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-08","last_verified_at":"2026-11-01T18:38:39Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":24,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":24},"description":"About Kinetic Games\nWe’re an independent games studio best known for creating Phasmophobia, enjoyed by millions of players worldwide. Our team is passionate, creative, and collaborative and we’re looking for someone equally enthusiastic about games to join our growing team.\nWe’re a small but fast growing, friendly team that values creativity, openness, and personal growth. Whether you’re helping various departments or talking about your favourite horror game, you’ll be part of a supportive environment where passion and curiosity are celebrated. You’ll be joining a small but ambitious team where your ideas are valued, your growth is supported, and your development truly matters.\nDiversity, equity, and inclusion are important to how we work together every day. We aim to build a team with diverse experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We believe great games start with an inclusive environment where everyone can contribute, grow, and succeed. Applications from all qualified candidates are encouraged. Equal opportunities are provided throughout our recruitment and employment practices.\nIf you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. We'll work with you to understand your needs and provide appropriate support wherever reasonably practicable.\nAbout the role:\nWe are looking for an organised and experienced Lead Game Designer to lead the design of content updates for Phasmophobia. You will work closely with the Game Director to translate the overall creative vision into clear, cohesive gameplay experiences, systems, and features.\nYou will be responsible for driving the design process across the development team, ensuring features are well-defined, appropriately scoped, and delivered to a consistently high standard. Alongside owning key areas of design yourself, you will support and guide other designers, helping establish strong design practices, documentation standards, and workflows across the studio.\nYou will collaborate closely with every development team to ensure gameplay features meet the creative vision. This role is ideal for an experienced designer who combines strong hands-on design skills with leadership, communication, and the ability to provide clear direction within a fast-paced, iterative live game environment.\nThis role is hybrid based at our office in Southampton. At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK.\nYour responsibilities will include:\nWork closely with the Game Director to translate the creative direction into detailed gameplay features, mechanics, systems, and content.\nLead the game design discipline, providing direction, support, and feedback to other designers.\nTake ownership of the overall quality, consistency, and clarity of game design across updates.\nOwn key gameplay features and systems from initial concept through implementation, iteration, balancing, and release.\nReview and provide feedback on design work to ensure it aligns with the game's creative direction and established design principles.\nEstablish and maintain clear design processes, documentation standards, and best practices across the design team.\nCreate and oversee clear, detailed, and actionable design documentation for cross-discipline teams.\nBreak high-level creative direction into actionable design work and help distribute design ownership across the team.\nMentor and support designers, helping them develop their design skills, decision-making, ownership, and understanding of Phasmophobia.\nIdentify gameplay, scope, UX, and implementation risks early and work proactively with stakeholders to resolve them.\nCollaborate closely with production to ensure design work is appropriately prioritised, scoped, and aligned with project milestones.\nWork closely with programmers to improve designer workflows, tools, pipelines, and the ability for designers to implement and iterate on content independently.\nConfidently use Unity Editor tools to tune gameplay, implement content, prototype ideas, and iterate on features hands-on.\nFacilitate design reviews and help resolve design problems or conflicting requirements between disciplines.\nGather and interpret internal, community, and gameplay feedback to improve player experience, gameplay readability, balance, and feature quality.\nPlay and test new updates regularly, ensuring the design team has a strong understanding of the game as a whole and that features meet gameplay, usability, and quality expectations.\nHelp identify opportunities to improve existing gameplay systems and the overall player experience\nRequirements:\nExpert understanding of Phasmophobia and a passion for horror and puzzle games.\nPrevious experience as a Lead Game Designer or equivalent within a large development team.\nAt least 1 shipped PC or Console game as a credited Game Designer, Senior Game Designer, Lead Game Designer, Game Director or equivalent, with a strong portfolio of gameplay design work.\nSignificant professional game design experience with a strong understanding of the complete feature development process.\nExperience leading, mentoring, or providing design direction to other designers.\nStrong experience designing multiplayer, horror, survival, or atmospheric gameplay systems.\nExcellent communication skills and the ability to provide clear design direction across multiple disciplines.\nStrong understanding of gameplay systems, balancing, progression, pacing and player experience.\nExperience taking high-level creative direction and developing it into detailed, actionable designs.\nStrong experience writing, reviewing, and maintaining design documentation.\nStrong decision-making and problem-solving skills, with the confidence to make design decisions.\nA collaborative mindset and confidence working closely with discipline leads, production, and senior stakeholders.\nEligibility to work in the UK.\nNice to Have:\nExperience working on live-service or regularly updated games.\nExperience working on puzzle or investigation mechanics.\nExperience working on a VR game.\nStrong experience using Unity Editor.\nExperience prototyping gameplay features directly within a game engine.\nBenefits & Perks:\nComprehensive Reward Package\nEnhancedEmployer Match Pension Scheme\nAnnual Bonus\nWeekly Free Team Lunches\nRegular Social Events\nHybrid & Flextime Working\nAccess to Southampton Football Club Tickets - subject to availability and sponsor allocation\nRelocation Package (within the UK only)\nElectric Vehicle Car Scheme\nEmployee of the Month Vouchers\nPersonal Wellbeing Allowance\nRecruitmentReferral Scheme\nTraining & Development Budget\nTraining & Career Development\nVitality Health Insurance\nAviva Life Insurance\n30 days Holiday in Total\nChristmas Studio Shutdown","description_format":"text","description_chars":6769,"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":["Equity","Health insurance","Life insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Game Development"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-08T14:17:28Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":55,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.729,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":23,"expected_fill_days":26,"reasons":["conf:3","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/kinetic-games-lead-game-designer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/kinetic-games-lead-game-designer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-01T21:01:24Z","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_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":32118,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-02T00:00:00Z"}},"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":680441},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=680441"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fkinetic-games-lead-game-designer"},{"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%2Fkinetic-games-lead-game-designer"},{"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%2Fkinetic-games-lead-game-designer"},{"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/kinetic-games-lead-game-designer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fkinetic-games-lead-game-designer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":2090274}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"kineticgames.co.uk","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":2090274},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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