Technical Designer II - Social Systems

About the role

Pipeworks Studios is seeking a skilled Technical Designer II to join a large-scale multiplayer experience with deep social and community-driven systems. You’ll help design, implement, and refine features that connect players—such as matchmaking, parties, and progression loops—while collaborating closely with both Pipeworks and partner teams. This is a highly collaborative role where you’ll bridge design and engineering to bring robust social systems to life in a live, evolving environment.

This is a full-time temporary role with extension or conversion to full-time regular employment possible after 6 months. Our studio is based in Eugene, Oregon. This role can work fully remote, hybrid, or in-office.

Responsibilities

• Plan, design, and implement engaging social systems that promote player connection and long-term engagement.
• Build and iterate on system logic, scripting, and data setups within proprietary tools and technology.
• Collaborate with engineering to define requirements, debug issues, and maintain tool and content stability.
• Partner with UX and design leads to ensure consistent standards for matchmaking, progression, and player-to-player interactions.
• Tune gameplay and social loops to balance usability, reward, and engagement.
• Participate in playtests and integrate feedback from partner and internal teams.
• Create and maintain clear, actionable documentation for features, systems, and tools.
• Contribute to workflow and tooling improvements supporting the broader design team.
• Communicate clearly across disciplines and time zones to align technical and creative goals.

Requirements

• C++ proficiency; comfortable completing a basic coding test.
• Professional experience as a systems or technical designer on a multiplayer or live-service title.
• Design experience with player-facing social systems such as friends, parties, matchmaking, and shared progression to enable the design and creation of sustainable social systems with long-term player engagement in mind.
• Technical experience writing text-based scripts to manage game systems (scripting in a Lua, Python, or similar language).
• Excellent cross-discipline communication skills, especially with engineering and UX.
• Familiarity with version control and collaboration tools (e.g., Perforce, Jira, Confluence).

Nice-to-have Skills

• Experience developing or tuning live-service systems, events, or seasonal content.
• Exposure to analytics or telemetry workflows for player engagement and community health.
• Experience supporting or extending proprietary tools and pipelines.
• Background in game engineering or scripting-heavy design roles.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant professional experience in game or technical design.
• At least one shipped title in a technical design capacity where they acted as a lead or principal for a feature, system, or tool.
• Experience collaborating on live or multiplayer projects preferred.
• Comfortable working within embedded partner teams and proprietary toolsets.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision
• 401K with employer match
• Employer Paid Life Insurance Policy
• Generous Paid Time Off
• 20 Paid Company Holidays
• Relocation
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Assistance Program
• Fitness Club Discounts
• Sports Team Sponsorship
• Annual Company Events
• Project Wrap Parties

Pay

$92,000 - $110,000 / year