Technical Designer II - Social Systems

Pipeworks Studios•Eugene, OR

37d•$92,000 - $110,000•Hybrid

About The Position

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.

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 Haves

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.

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.