Senior Game Designer

About Us

Board is on a mission to reimagine play. Its first product is a tabletop gaming console that blends the magic of video games with the feel of board games. The goal: bring people of all ages and gaming experience together face-to-face, around the table, having fun.

Role Description

We’re looking for a Senior / Lead Game Designer who can design entire games end-to-end and lead teams to build them. This role blends creative direction, systems design, and light production leadership. You will be accountable for the quality, clarity, and cohesion of the final game experience starting from the initial concept through launch.

This is not a narrow feature-design role. You’ll own the vision, define the core player experience, and work hands-on with our internal team or external partners to ensure the game ships on time and at our high bar.

Key Responsibilities

Game & Systems Design

• Author complete game designs, including: Core fantasy and player promise; Core loop, progression, and pacing; Mechanics, systems, and rulesets; Theme, story, and setting; UI/UX flows and player onboarding
• Create clear, actionable design documentation (one-pagers, pillars, specs, etc).
• Rapidly prototype and iterate on mechanics using paper, digital tools, or in-engine collaboration.
• Playtest relentlessly and refine based on player feedback.

Creative Direction

• Set and communicate a strong creative vision that teams can execute against.
• Maintain design cohesion across gameplay, UI, narrative, and art.
• Make final calls when tradeoffs are required to protect the player experience.
• Act as the “player advocate” in all discussions.

Team Leadership & Project Direction

• Direct the work of internal teams and/or external development partners.
• Break high-level vision into clear goals, milestones, and priorities.
• Collaborate closely with production to scope features, manage risk, and hit deadlines.
• Review work, give actionable feedback, and course-correct when necessary.
• Align stakeholders around tradeoffs, constraints, and decisions.

Qualifications

Required

• 8–12 years of professional game design experience or equivalent shipped work.
• Experience designing and shipping complete games, not just individual features.
• Demonstrated ability to lead design across a project lifecycle.
• Strong systems design skills (economy, progression, balance, tuning).
• Experience working cross-functionally with engineering, art, and production.
• Clear communication skills—written, verbal, and visual.

Desired

• Shipped your own indie game, board game, or tabletop experience (commercially preferred).
• Experience directing or collaborating with external studios or contractors.
• Familiarity with light project management practices (milestones, roadmaps, scope control).
• Comfort owning schedules and making scope tradeoffs in service of shipping.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary & equity grants
• Competitive healthcare coverage (medical, dental, vision)
• 401(k) plan
• Self-directed, paid time-off

Compensation:

The expected salary range for this role is $130,000 – $180,000, based on experience and qualifications. We aim to pay fairly and competitively and will determine final compensation accordingly.