Technical Designer II - Social Systems

Technical Designer II
- Social Systems

Department: Design

Employment Type: Fixed Term
- Full Time

Location: Eugene, OR

Compensation: $92,000 - $110,000 / year

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.

Must Haves

• 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.
• Hey Background in game engineering or scripting-heavy design roles.

Education & Experience

• 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.

A Flexible Working Environment

Almost all of our roles allow for your choice of work location. We're happy to support our team no matter where they prefer to work: remote, in office, or hybrid.

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

Pipeworks Studios recognizes the importance of creating an environment where all of our employees feel included and empowered to bring ideas to the the table. We value each employee's unique experiences and perspectives and recognize that it is both the smart and right thing to foster diversity, equity and inclusion within our organization.

By diversifying our workforce, increasing equity, and ensuring that our individual differences are valued, we are better…