Game Economy & Progression Designer

Main challenge
Own the game economy and progression so that players always have something meaningful to work toward, without the game turning into a grind or a currency treadmill. Create a robust economy that can last for years, support live ops, and make room for product managers to create offers (if the model permits it).
What it means on a daily basis
Be responsible for the in-game economy: currencies, resource flows, progression speed, content consumption, and related systems.
Design economy systems, including specifications, edge cases, flow mockups, and expected success KPIs. Follow up on progress with each related department.
Work with design to ensure economy systems are aligned with other systems, not just co-existing.
Build Excel models to track and predict how players progress over time.
Design test setups and player profiles to compare expected vs. actual progression.
Find issues in progression systems, such as pacing problems, broken rewards, or dead loops.
Define what data needs to be tracked to better understand player behavior.
Use data to adjust balancing and improve retention and long-term engagement.
Keep an eye on how other games solve similar problems—both inside Gameloft and outside.
What success will look like
Players don’t just follow quests - they set their own short and mid-term goals
The economy gives a reason to engage with multiple systems, not just one dominant loop
Progression feels consistent and readable, without sudden walls or meaningless rewards
New content (dragons, features, expansions) plugs into the economy without breaking it
We avoid both extremes: players running out of things to do or feeling forced to grind
Who you would be working with
Creative Director
Game Designers
Product Managers
Product / Monetization stakeholders
Data / Analytics
UI/UX
Production
Your recruitment journey
First interview: discussion around experience and approach
Test: progression / economy case
Second interview: deep dive on your thinking and tradeoffs
Final interview: alignment on how you approach player experience vs business needs
Where this role can take you
Senior / Lead Economy Designer
Ownership of progression and economy across a live product
Strong influence on product and liveops decisions
What you need to succeed
Experience as Game Economy Designer / Balancer
Strong analytical thinking - able to break problems into variables and relationships
Ability to model progression in Excel
Understanding of different economy models (F2P, premium, hybrid)
Ability to interpret data and turn it into concrete changes
Experience working with tracking data
Who you are
You think in player behavior and systems, not just numbers
You’re comfortable saying “this will break the game economy” even if it’s unpopular
You understand that progression design is often about tradeoffs, not perfect balance
You can work in an environment where things change and assumptions get invalidated
You don’t default to copying F2P patterns if they don’t fit the game

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
Hybrid