Senior Meta Designer - Unannounced Project

About Zynga

Zynga is a global leader in interactive entertainment, renowned for connecting players across more than 175 countries through popular games spanning casual casino spins, strategic battles, puzzles, and social word games. With over 6 billion downloads since its founding in 2007 and headquartered in California, Zynga's diverse portfolio includes hits such as FarmVille™, Words With Friends™, Zynga Poker™, and many more. Zynga operates teams across North America, Europe, and Asia, dedicated to creating memorable gaming experiences where fun meets innovation.

Position Overview

NaturalMotion, a Zynga studio in London, is seeking a skilled and enthusiastic Meta Designer to influence the combat experience for a first-person shooter mobile game. This role involves creating and overseeing metagame, live-service, and progression features to deliver an engaging and sustainable mobile player experience.

The successful candidate will take ownership of key metagame components from initial concept through live updates, collaborating closely with design, art, UX, engineering, and product teams. Designing with scalability and iteration in mind, they will analyze live game data to refine and enhance features continually. A deep passion for action games and a willingness to experiment with new ideas are essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, prototyping, and implementation of progression, economy, and engagement systems aligned with the creative direction.
• Define and analyze analytics, feature data, and KPIs to inform design decisions.
• Partner with live and product management teams to establish goals and improve player engagement.
• Work collaboratively across disciplines including art, animation, audio, design, and engineering to create content and solve complex problems.
• Design and balance in-game economies across various metagame features.
• Coordinate with UX and engineering to ensure feature implementations meet target engagement metrics.
• Interpret player data, feedback, and behaviors to identify and resolve metagame challenges and retention obstacles.
• Manage multiple design projects simultaneously in a fast-moving development environment, prioritizing effectively.
• Document and communicate metagame feature concepts clearly to maintain team alignment throughout development.

Candidate Requirements

• Experience in Metagame, Progression, Engagement Design, or a related design role within the video game industry.
• At least one shipped live-service game title with design responsibilities.
• Proven ability to design and implement progression, economy or engagement features for live games.
• Familiarity with analyzing KPIs and player behavioral data.
• Experience working with Unreal Engine.
• Competency in data-driven design decisions informed by gameplay analytics and player feedback.
• Strong communication skills to work effectively across cross-disciplinary teams.
• Capability to juggle multiple design tasks in a dynamic development environment.
• Passion for action games and an insightful understanding of engaging enemy design.

Desirable Skills

• Background in mobile gaming with insight into mobile player behaviors and leading market trends.
• Experience using visual scripting or rapid prototyping tools.
• Avid gamer mindset with dedication to developing compelling progression and metagame systems that sustain long-term player motivation.

What Zynga Provides

• Competitive salary plus discretionary annual bonuses.
• 26 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays and 2 paid personal days.
• Generous parental leave policies including fully paid maternity/adoption and paternity leave (subject to eligibility).
• Pension plan featuring double matching employer contributions.
• Comprehensive private medical, dental insurance, and healthcare cash plans.
• Life, personal accident insurance, and income protection coverage.
• Support programs for mental health and neurodiversity.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan eligibility.
• Annual fitness reimbursement worth £600.
• Flexible working hours with a hybrid schedule (2 days office in London, remainder remote).
• Regular social activities including weekly happy hours and seasonal parties.
• Commuter benefits including rail season ticket advance and cycle to work schemes.

Diversity and Inclusion

Zynga is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, ensuring employment decisions are made solely on merit and qualifications without discrimination based on personal characteristics protected by law. The company also provides accommodations to support applicants with disabilities or health conditions to fully participate in recruitment processes.

Important Notes

Zynga does not conduct recruitment via third-party messaging apps or request financial or personal information through unofficial channels. Recruitment correspondences occur only through official company email domains.