Game Designer III (Card Rules) - Riftbound

Riot Games

📍Los Angeles, CA
Posted May 20, 2026

Job Overview

Position

Game Designer III (Card Rules) - Riftbound

Company

Riot Games

Location

Los Angeles, CA

Work Type

On-site

Job ID

li-4398880798

Job Description

As a Game Designer, you will design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity help craft in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and work with every tool at hand to create and iterate player-focused designs that will delight millions around the world.

As a
Senior Game Designer
on Riftbound, you'll report to a Game Design Manager and work directly with other designers. You will design and improve the gameplay experience through the lens of game rules and their interactions with content: cards. Primary among your responsibilities will be working with set designers to build, improve, and execute on new mechanics, templates, and rules, and you will also be expected to contribute to card design across many products, and support other efforts related to the Riftbound game experience.

Responsibilities

  • Understand the relevant audiences for the game, and from this, calibrate your design expertise to reflect appropriate taste for these audiences

  • Use data and sense-making to identify opportunities to improve the health of the game through cards

  • Articulate and consider a scope and depth of possible solutions, including possible effects, and collaboratively reach the best solution

  • Evaluate and improve rules across the game’s design and execution, especially understanding the multiple ways the game will be played by players

  • Improve existing design frameworks, our approaches to design, and create new ones

  • Openly share work and seek feedback from other developers, while combine co-worker and player feedback to calibrate design direction

  • Provide mentorship to more junior members of the design team

Required Qualifications

  • 4+ years experience as a game designer and/or tabletop game rules manager

  • Demonstrated experience working on rules for tabletop games

  • Broad mechanics and content design ability

Desired Qualifications

  • Knowledge of CCGs and their features

  • Experience playing or judging in CCGs

  • Experience working with or playing PvP strategy games

  • Experience developing a competitive or multiplayer game

*For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!*
Our Perks
Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our
benefits pages
for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

*It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.*
Duties
*Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:*

  • Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data

  • Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors

  • Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks

  • Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

*These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.*

Interview Prep

AI-powered insights to help you prepare

Key Skills

Required:
Preferred:

Practice Questions

💡Technical Questions (3)
  • 1.How do you approach designing a new mechanic or keyword for a card game to ensure it integrates cleanly with existing rules without creating unintended interactions?
  • 2.Walk me through your process for using data and player feedback to identify and improve the health of a card game environment.
  • 3.When evaluating the scope and depth of possible design solutions for a card rules issue, how do you weigh the benefits of a narrow, targeted fix versus a broad systemic change?
🎯Behavioral Questions (3)
  • 1.Tell me about a time you had to collaborate with set designers or other disciplines to execute on a new mechanic that you initially disagreed on.
  • 2.Describe a situation where you had to mentor a junior designer on creating card rules or templates. How did you help them improve their craft?
  • 3.Give an example of a time you used player empathy to calibrate a design decision that data alone might have led you to make differently.
🧩Situational Questions (2)
  • 1.Imagine a newly released card in Riftbound has an interaction with an older ruleset that creates a degenerate, unfun combo in PvP, but the card is very popular with casual players. How do you resolve this?
  • 2.You are tasked with creating a new design framework for a future set of cards, but the current framework is too rigid to support the new themes the team wants to explore. How do you improve the system?

Resume Keywords

Make sure these keywords appear on your resume

Tabletop RulesCard DesignCCGGame MechanicsDesign FrameworksData AnalysisPlayer EmpathyMentorshipCross-disciplinary CollaborationPvP StrategyCompetitive MultiplayerSense-making

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