Game Designer, Pokémon GO, Live Ops

Niantic Labs, creator of Ingress and Pokémon GO, is seeking a Live Ops Game Designer to help build meaningful gameplay experiences that delight and engage our players. We’re a fast-moving, multi-disciplinary team of software developers and creative professionals based in San Francisco, Seattle and Tokyo. You will be responsible for leveraging content, game mechanics, and systems to piece together a compelling Live Ops plan and seasonal narrative for Pokémon GO, helping merge the virtual with the real world and inspiring people to explore the world, together.

• Create, test, and tune game rules for live operations and seasonal gameplay in Pokemon GO.
• Create one-page designs, content drafts and game design process documentation.
• Communicate content requirements, implementation processes, risks, and interactions.
• Collaboratively identify and implement new ways to utilize content to keep the game fresh and engaging for players.
• Collaborate with IP holders to ensure brand integrity.
• Partner with producers, designers, artists, engineers and marketing to deliver compelling live service experiences.
• Work with a cross-functional team to create and run global live events.
• Be available for on-call troubleshooting for live events.
• Collaborate with cross-functional team members and stakeholders to cultivate strong working relationships with project team members, including regular and reliable attendance and participation in meetings.

• Extensive content creation experience, completing implementation from concept to delivery.
• Experience with game balance and pacing in a free-to-play economic model.
• Expertise with spreadsheets and in manipulating, summarizing, and maintaining large data sets.
• Excellent verbal and written communication.
• Flexibility in a demanding team environment.
• Passion for video games; an avid gamer with a solid understanding of mobile games.
• Strong knowledge base of Pokémon GO and the general Pokémon franchise.
• Have worked on a high profile game with a significant amount of daily active users.
• 3+ years designing and managing content for a live mobile game.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced hybrid environment and handle stress appropriately and/or ability to solve practical problems and be sufficiently adaptable to handle dynamic situations with little advance notice.
• Experience working on cross-functional teams with ability to communicate effectively through written and verbal communications, including synchronous interactions with others.

• Experience with AR games or features.
• Experience with prototyping data models.
• Proficiency in Unity game development.
• Proficiency in scripting or tools writing.
• Experience in other related fields such as user interface design, art, programming or sound.

The total compensation package for this position includes a new hire offer base salary range of $112,000 - $136,500 + bonus + equity + benefits.

Individual pay within this salary range is determined by work location and additional factors, including assessed job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can answer any questions about new hire total compensation during the hiring process. An overview of benefit offerings for your location can be found on the careers page.

Niantic is the world’s leading AR technology company, sparking creative and engaging journeys in the real world. Our products inspire outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interaction. 

Originally formed at Google in 2011, we became an independent company in 2015 with a strong group of investors including Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Alsop Louie Partners. Our current consumer titles include pioneering global-control game Ingress, record-breaking AR game Pokémon GO, and Pikmin Bloom. In November 2021, we launched our developer platform, Lightship, enabling creators to build immersive AR experiences around the globe. Niantic is an Equal Opportunity employer. 

We believe that cultivating a workplace where our people are supported and included is essential to creating great products our community will love. Our mission emphasizes seeking and hiring diverse voices, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the technology industry, and we consider this to be one of the most important values we hold close.

Niantic is a hybrid first company. We believe that in person interaction and collaboration is good for Niantic’s culture, and critical to our future success as a company. We support flexibility and know new ways of working are here to stay. 

We're a hard-working, fun, and exciting group who value intellectual curiosity and a passion for problem-solving! We have growing offices located in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo, Hamburg, and Zurich. #LI-HYBRID