Associate Game Designer

Associate Game Designer Founder's Office | Product Strategy & Business Development Location: Hyderabad, India Experience: 0–2 years of game design experience. Candidates from other gaming disciplines are welcome. Employment Type: 12-month contract, with an opportunity to convert to full-time employment based on performance. About Liquidnitro Games Liquidnitro Games is a game development company built to create, launch, and scale ambitious games for a global audience. Founded by industry veterans with deep experience across free-to-play, live services, and large-scale game production agnostic of platforms, we bring together product thinking, design craft, engineering depth, art execution, data, and live operations under one roof. We build games from the ground up, take new ideas from 0 to 1, and work with select partners to strengthen, scale, and operate high-quality game experiences. Our teams combine creative ownership with production discipline, helping projects move from early prototypes to validated products, and from launch to long-term growth. At Liquidnitro, we are building the next generation of game teams, products, and tools from India for the global games industry. About the Role We're building a small, high-impact game design team within our Founder's Office to support product strategy, business development, and new game opportunities. As an Associate Game Designer, you'll work closely with our founders, Product Managers, and senior Game Designers to analyze games, understand market opportunities, explore game concepts, and help develop compelling pitches for prospective partners and clients. This isn't a traditional game design role focused solely on building features or levels. You'll work across genres and platforms, study successful and unsuccessful games, understand what drives player engagement and monetization, and help articulate how games could be built, improved, or transformed. This is also a great opportunity for people already working in the games industry, particularly in QA, production, and other disciplines, who want to transition into game design. If you've spent time playing, testing, or building games and find yourself constantly thinking about why certain mechanics work, how systems could be improved, or what makes a game successful, we'd love to hear from you. We're looking for curious, analytical thinkers who love games, can develop informed opinions, and know how to communicate their ideas clearly. What You'll Do Game Teardowns & Competitive Analysis Conduct detailed teardowns of mobile, PC, and console games, examining core gameplay loops, progression systems, economies, engagement mechanics, monetization, and live operations. Analyze competing games to identify strengths, weaknesses, design patterns, player pain points, and opportunities for differentiation. Study player reviews, market trends, and available game performance data to understand what drives product success or failure. Develop structured teardown reports that explain not just what a game does, but why specific design choices work and how they influence player behavior. Identify actionable design and product opportunities based on research and analysis. Product Strategy & Pitch Development Work with Product Managers and senior Game Designers to support the development of product strategies, game concepts, and proposals for prospective clients. Help prepare compelling pitch presentations through game research, competitive benchmarks, design recommendations, gameplay references, and product insights. Translate complex gameplay systems and design ideas into clear, persuasive narratives for internal and external audiences. Research potential product opportunities, including new game concepts, live services improvements, feature innovations, and opportunities to evolve existing games. Support the founding team with rapid analysis and research for new business opportunities. Game Design & Concept Exploration Contribute ideas for gameplay mechanics, progression systems, metagame features, economies, monetization models, and live operations. Develop lightweight game design documents, gameplay flows, wireframes, and prototypes to communicate ideas. Research emerging genres, gameplay trends, player behaviors, and innovative design patterns. Collaborate with senior designers to evaluate ideas from creative, player experience, and commercial perspectives. Explore how existing games could be improved, adapted for different audiences, or expanded into new experiences. Founder's Office Collaboration Work directly with the founding team on strategic product and business development initiatives. Support fast-paced research, analysis, and pitch preparation for new client opportunities. Participate in product reviews, brainstorming sessions, and game design discussions. Collaborate across product, design, art, and engineering teams to bring ideas and presentations together. Take ownership of assigned research and design deliverables, incorporating feedback and iterating quickly. What We're Looking For 0–2 years of game design experience, or relevant experience in QA, production, product research, or other gaming functions. Fresh graduates with strong portfolios are welcome. A genuine passion for games and curiosity to explore different genres, platforms, and business models. Strong interest in understanding gameplay mechanics, core loops, progression systems, player motivation, engagement, and monetization. Ability to critically analyze games and articulate what works, what doesn't, and why. Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving skills, and attention to detail. Good written and visual communication skills, with the ability to present ideas through structured documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. A proactive approach to learning, researching unfamiliar topics, and developing independent perspectives. Ability to work collaboratively, accept feedback, and iterate quickly. You don't need to have worked as a Game Designer before. We're equally interested in people with strong game knowledge, curiosity, analytical ability, and the motivation to build a career in game design. Bonus Points If You Have independently created game teardowns, design case studies, competitive analyses, or product improvement proposals. Have built playable prototypes, game jam projects, mods, or personal game projects. Understand free-to-play game economies, live operations, retention, and monetization design. Have experience with Unity, Unreal Engine, Figma, or other game design and prototyping tools. Have used AI tools for research, analysis, ideation, prototyping, or improving productivity. Regularly explore games outside your preferred genres and enjoy understanding what makes them successful. What Makes This Role Different A pathway into game design: An opportunity for QA professionals and people from other gaming disciplines to transition into a game design career. Direct exposure to leadership: Work closely with founders, Product Managers, and senior Game Designers on real product and business opportunities. Learn across genres and platforms: Analyze and contribute to games spanning different audiences, genres, business models, and platforms. Real-world impact: Your research, ideas, and recommendations will help shape product strategies and pitches for leading game publishers and IP owners. Accelerated learning: Develop a combination of game design, product thinking, market analysis, and communication skills beyond the scope of a conventional entry-level design role. Opportunity for full-time employment: This is a 12-month contract position with the possibility of conversion to a full-time role based on performance. How to Apply Along with your resume, we'd love to see something that demonstrates how you think about games. This could be a game teardown, a competitive analysis, a critique of a game mechanic, a game design document, or a playable prototype. We're less interested in how polished your presentation looks and more interested in the quality of your thinking, depth of analysis, and originality of your ideas. Prior professional game design experience is not mandatory. What matters is your curiosity, analytical ability, love for games, and potential to grow into a strong Game Designer. Apply at: https://liquidnitro.zohorecruit.in/jobs/Careers