Principal Systems & Economy Designer

About Sumo Digital, Sheffield

Founded in 2003, Sumo Sheffield was the first of the Sumo Digital studios. Firmly established as the premium development partner of leading publishers, we are trusted to deliver high quality games associated with some of the most iconic and valued properties in the industry. We are also generating innovative new IP! With a highly skilled body of almost 300 developers we work across all platforms, on a selection of AAA games covering multiple genres including Sports, FPS, and platform adventure.

Day in the life of a Principal Systems & Economy Designer:

As our Principal Systems & Economy Designer, you will be joining the team working on our very own IP! From designing and modelling flexible game progression systems to collaborating closely with the game design team, your expertise will shape the very essence of player experiences. You will be crafting engaging in-game content and events across all stages of our product’s life cycle, while recommending monetisation strategies that strike the perfect balance between player satisfaction and business objectives of the game.

As a key member of the Live Ops team, you'll conduct in-depth analysis of competitor features and economies and engage closely with Product Management and Data Science to validate and refine feature designs. You will generate comprehensive design documentation to ensure clarity and cohesion across all systems and monetisation features and be responsible for defining and communicating the game’s economy and progression vision to stakeholders. Alongside all of this, you will guide and mentor other Designers within the team, fostering a culture of collaboration and support.

Please note, you will need to be UK based for this role. This role can be remote within the UK.

What you need to do this job:

• Experience on multiple live titles as a Systems or Economy Designer is highly desirable, with at least 1 game in a Senior/Lead/Principal Designer capacity.

• Experience working on a MMO/F2P/GaaS title is required.

• Keen knowledge of game systems and economies across genres required.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Strong statistical and business modelling skills.

• Ability to create models and tools to build, simulate, and analyse player behavior/progression/economy.

• Ability to model problems in quantitative systems and draw conclusions.

• Expert-level ability in Microsoft Excel. SQL Experience highly desirable.

The Interview Process:

At Sumo Sheffield, we take a holistic and engaging interview process that allows us to get to know you, your skills and your potential. For this role, there will be a 3 stage interview:

1st Stage: One hour with our Lead Systems & Economy Designer and our Senior Systems and Economy Designer. Here we will talk with you about your experience, our expectations in the role and ask some competency based questions. There will of course also be opportunities for you to ask questions!

2nd Stage: One hour with our 2 Senior Product Managers. This is a chance for you to speak with more people within the Live Ops team. This will be more around your experience and competency based questions.

3rd Stage: One our with our Studio Live Ops Director, Senior Executive Producer and Design Director. This is the final stage and chance to talk to some of the project team outside of Live Ops!

What’s in it for you?

Sumo also offers a highly personable benefits package which has something for everyone, no matter where you are in your career.

Financial: Annual bonus, flexible benefits allowance, salary sacrifice pension, benefits hub, payroll giving, an employee referral scheme (up to £3,000), financial/home buying consultations, workplace ISA and other schemes for tech loans, car loan and bicycles.

Work-life Balance: Flexible working, 21 free choice days holiday (increasing to 22 with service), bank holidays, birthday day off, a duvet day (increasing to 4 with service), Christmas shutdown (Christmas Eve to New Year) and options to buy or sell up to a week of annual leave*.

Health and Wellbeing: Dental insurance, income protection, life assurance, BUPA private healthcare*, leading EAP programs (remote GP, mental health, physio, nutrition, lifestyle coaching and medical second opinions, critical illness cover*, health cash plan*, flexible gym (in-studio or discounts) and funded flu vaccines/eye tests.

Personal Development: Structured Personal Development tool, regular appraisals, annual salary reviews, access to Udemy learning platform, 5/8 learning days per annum (1 can be used as a volunteer day), award-winning L&D team and yearly attendance to the Sumo Developers Conference (link to video).

Extra Perks: A variety of in-studio perks, regular care packages, studio days out (family welcome), studio-led social activities (game jams, yoga, quizzes, life drawing and more), sabbaticals (at 10 years service) and annual gaming subscription.

*Opt-in benefits (part of our flexible benefits options).

Inclusion and Belonging at Sumo Digital:

We are dedicated to growing a sustainable business that provides security to our people while delivering a first-class experience to our partners and players.

As a people business, the success of our people is the success of our company. We prioritise taking care of them with a focus on supporting them, nurturing their talent and providing a healthy, friendly, enriching, creative and safe environment in which to work.

Sumo's employee diversity group, PRISM, exists to promote diversity, inclusion, equity, equality & wellbeing across the company and plays a key role in Sumo's ongoing goal of fostering environments where all employees feel safe, welcome & represented.

Our charitable and community initiatives provide support for meaningful causes that matter to our employees, clients and partners.

We continue to work to improve diversity in our recruitment and promotion processes, and to actively encourage people from marginalised groups to consider a career in the games industry.