How to hire a senior game designer

How to hire a senior game designer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior game designer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior game designer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior game designer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior game designer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a senior game designer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A senior game designer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior game designers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of senior game designers.

   Type of Senior Game Designer	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Game Designer		$32-74
   Designer	A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences... Show more	$21-46
   Lead Designer	A lead designer is responsible for addressing the clients' needs of digital content and coordinating with the design team for the planning and innovation of the visual design and concept. Lead designers conduct the initial layout of frameworks and collaborate with the art staff for the specifications and outputs using various software applications and digital boards... Show more	$37-74

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Unity
   • Animation
   • AAA
   • Prototyping
   • UI
   • Game Mechanics
   • PC
   • Game Systems
   • Combat
   • Lead Design
   • Content Creation
   • Level Design
   • System Design
   • Content Design

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Produce unique concepts and designs on CATIA of never before achieve mechanisms and body components, which are patented by CHRYSLER.
   • Direct devs (client and server) to create quality gameplay features for the IP.
   • Initial prototyping and implementation of many of its game core play mechanics on their proprietary tool.
   • Handle all aspects of design including writing all the design documents, making UI mockups, charting user flows, etc.
   • Plan and implement combat encounters.
   • Develop UX wireframes for products using creative applications.

   More senior game designer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior game designer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A senior game designer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, senior game designers' average salary in hawaii is 40% less than in nevada.
   • Seniority. Entry-level senior game designers earn 57% less than senior-level senior game designers.
   • Certifications. A senior game designer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a senior game designer's salary.

   Average senior game designer salary

   $102,838yearly

   $49.44 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior game designer salary

   $67,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 25, 2025

   Average senior game designer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Nevada	$119,158	$57
   2	District of Columbia	$115,931	$56
   3	Washington	$114,201	$55
   4	California	$109,821	$53
   5	Massachusetts	$100,961	$49
   6	New York	$99,357	$48
   7	Michigan	$92,558	$45
   8	Texas	$92,549	$44
   9	Florida	$83,632	$40
   10	Illinois	$82,258	$40
   11	Georgia	$78,019	$38
   12	Hawaii	$71,950	$35

   Average senior game designer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$149,692	$71.97	263
   2	McKinsey & Company Inc	$148,415	$71.35
   3	Microsoft	$130,472	$62.73	43
   4	Netflix	$129,845	$62.43	6
   5	The Walt Disney Company	$119,666	$57.53	27
   6	Daybreak Game	$106,855	$51.37
   7	Bungie	$105,999	$50.96
   8	Jam City	$104,516	$50.25	6
   9	Electronic Arts	$104,403	$50.19	1
   10	Motion Recruitment	$104,176	$50.08	2
   11	IMVU	$103,636	$49.83
   12	Glu Mobile	$103,524	$49.77
   13	GSN Games	$103,387	$49.71
   14	Amazon	$103,133	$49.58	183
   15	Aristocrat Technologies, Inc.	$102,970	$49.50
   16	Cloud Imperium Games	$102,265	$49.17
   17	ProbablyMonsters	$101,882	$48.98	3
   18	Mythical Store	$101,845	$48.96
   19	PlayStation	$101,826	$48.95
   20	Zynga	$101,616	$48.85	2

4. Writing a senior game designer job description

   A senior game designer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a senior game designer job description:

   Senior game designer job description example

   Responsibilities

   • Design and refine systems that delight and satisfy players needs for game play
   • Work with other disciplines to build features that meet product goals
   • Seek opportunities for new design spaces in collaboration with Product Managers and Design Leadership.
   • Create and provide multiple potential designs and solutions. Articulate trade-offs and risks between different options.
   • Playtest our game and help push for continued improvements for existing designs and fresh prototypes.

   Required Qualifications

   • 5+ years of experience in professional Game Design
   • Can create complex systems with attention to the player impacts and downstream effects

   Desired Qualifications

   • Experience in Unity game engine
   • Deep knowledge of PvP strategy card games and empathy for PvP strategy card game players
   • Experience with in-game systems design
   • At least 3 shipped titles
   • Experience working on a AAA game

   Who we are - Tempo Games Studio

   We are a new start up games studio with an incredible game in development. The Bazaar is an infinitely replayable, global and free to play strategy card game for all platforms. In this genre-bending title, you play as an enterprising adventurer on a quest for wealth and glory in an intergalactic marketplace.

   We are hiring the best in class talent and our team has collectively delivered more than 100 games, events, and marketing campaigns with the largest companies on the globe, including Epic, Microsoft, Amazon, Activision Blizzard, Capcom, ArenaNet, WarnerBros, Bungie, Sony, and Disney.

   Tempo fosters a culture of innovation, inclusion, and passion among our team and fans to deliver impactful experiences that shape the way we all create, entertain, and play. We invest everything into our staff, culture, and product.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find senior game designers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior game designer job on Zippia to find and recruit senior game designer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with senior game designer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a senior game designer applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior game designer

   Once you've decided on a perfect senior game designer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new senior game designer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a senior game designer?