Game Designer, Games

Mission Overview & Responsibilities: 

The New York Times is looking for a Game Designer for our portfolio of games. At NYT Games, we aim to be the premier destination for digital puzzle games. We are proud to publish human-made puzzles every day, including beloved games like Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, and the New York Times Crossword. Our games are played by tens of millions each week.

This is an individual contributor role. You will collaborate with multiple disciplines to identify and improve critical aspects of our game experiences, create new puzzle games, delight audiences, and further our creative and business goals. We value an environment of learning and collaboration. You'll cultivate your craft skills with the support of fellow designers, attend regular design rituals where you'll receive and provide critiques, and identify opportunities for consistency across the function. NYT Games is not a traditional gaming company. While prior games/puzzles industry experience is required, you are someone who can embody essential NYT values like trust, curiosity, and empathy, and recognize that ensuring the mission of independent journalism is core to everything we do.

This is a hybrid position based in our New York City headquarters.

Responsibilities:

• Design and document systems and requirements for new games, and features and metagame systems for existing games.

• Articulate and communicate a vision for game design goals, keeping your team aligned with that vision.

• Design holistically and with the broader NYT Games aesthetic and style in mind.

• Use several visualization tools to express design concepts, engagement systems, retention mechanics.

• Support high-level games strategy, hone game ideas into concrete approaches, collaboratively lead the narrowing down of ideas and establish clear requirements.

• Collaborate with UX/UI designers, Engineers and Producers to prototype, improve, test and launch betas for new games, ensuring design quality and consistency.

• Partner with the research team to shape games grounded in user insights.

• Contribute to team and product design rituals.

• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.

• You will report to the Executive Director of Product Design.

Basic Qualifications: 

• 3+ years of experience as a Game Designer for commercial digital games.

• A portfolio of work that showcases your process along with finished game design work.

• 2+ years of experience presenting ideas, aligning cross-functional teams and stakeholders around a clear, motivating vision, and on shared priorities.

• 2+ years experience with user research and synthesis.

• Proficiency in communicating game design philosophy for developing games and features.

• Proficiency in prototyping and collaboration tools (ex: Figma, Play, Cursor, Gemini Canvas, Retool, Miro).

Preferred Qualifications: 

#LI-Hybrid

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The New York Times Company is committed to being the world’s best source of independent, reliable and quality journalism. To do so, we embrace a diverse workforce that has a broad range of backgrounds and experiences across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. We encourage people from all  backgrounds to apply.

We are  an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of an individual's sex, age, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or affectional preference, gender identity and expression, disability, genetic trait or predisposition, carrier status, citizenship, veteran or military status and other personal characteristics protected by law. All applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s Know Your Rights Poster is available here. 

The New York Times Company will provide reasonable accommodations as required by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws. Individuals seeking an accommodation for the application or interview process should email reasonable.accommodations@nytimes.com. Emails sent for unrelated issues, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

The Company encourages those with criminal histories to apply, and will consider their applications in a manner consistent with applicable "Fair Chance" laws, including but not limited to the NYC Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act.

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