Senior Game Designer
FANATICS COLLECTIBLES
$130,000 - $160,000 / year
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Description
About Us
About the Team
Fanatics TCG is a new Seattle-based trading card game studio within the Fanatics Collectibles family, founded by industry veterans with a long-term mandate to build enduring franchises that live across tabletop, digital, community, and culture. We're looking for skilled and passionate talent from the games industry and beyond to help us create the best trading card games in the world.
Who We Are Looking For
As a Senior Game Designer, you will help define the game and shape how the design team organizes and executes its work. You will own major systems and releases while establishing the frameworks, documentation, review practices, and decision-making processes that keep the team aligned. This is a hands-on senior role for a designer who can solve difficult design problems, guide the work of others, and protect the long-term health and consistency of the game.
Responsibilities
- Lead set-level and mechanic design for major releases, including prototyping, playtesting, iteration, balance, and final design handoff
- Own the design and evolution of systems, rules, formats, and other major features from concept through implementation
- Establish clear design frameworks, documentation standards, review practices, and workflows that help the team make consistent decisions and execute across multiple releases
- Review design work, provide actionable feedback, and mentor other designers while remaining deeply involved in hands-on design
- Partner with product, creative, development, and playtesting teams to resolve tradeoffs and maintain alignment from early concept through launch
- Identify systemic design risks, player-experience concerns, and long-term balance issues, then drive solutions informed by testing and player behavior
Qualifications and Experience
- 5 or more years of professional game design experience, including substantial work on trading card games, collectible card games, strategy games, or other systems-driven titles
- A record of owning complex game systems or major releases and carrying them from early design through production
- Experience creating or improving design processes, documentation, and team practices that support high-quality work at scale
- Strong understanding of systems design, rules architecture, balance, game economies, metagame health, and long-term content development
- Ability to lead through influence, give clear feedback, and guide other designers without stepping away from hands-on design work
- Clear written and verbal communication skills, sound design judgment, and comfort working across disciplines in a fast-moving studio environment
Location
All employees of Fanatics TCG are expected to work onsite in our Seattle office five days per week.
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The salary range represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. This salary range is specific to Seattle and may not be applicable to other locations. When determining base pay, as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/
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About this role
Fanatics TCG, a new Seattle-based trading card game studio, is seeking a Senior Game Designer to lead design on major releases and help establish how the team works together. You'd own significant systems and mechanics from prototyping through launch, while also building the frameworks, documentation, and review practices that keep a growing design team aligned and consistent. This role balances hands-on design work—solving complex problems around balance, economies, and long-term metagame health—with mentorship and cross-functional leadership across product, creative, and development.
The position calls for someone with at least five years of professional game design experience, ideally with substantial work on trading card games or other systems-driven titles. You should have a track record of owning complex systems through production and improving design processes at scale. Strong systems thinking, clear communication, and the ability to lead through influence while staying deeply involved in design are essential. This is a full-time, in-office role in Seattle with a salary range of $130,000–$160,000.
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Pay for this role
$130,000 to $160,000 per year
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