Game Designer (System & Meta)

Nex is on a mission to help families rediscover the joy of movement. Created by parents for parents, Nex combines technology and play to deliver fun, social, and interactive experiences powered by natural body motion, encouraging kids and adults to move more, play more, and have fun together. Nex Playground, the company’s award-winning active play system, is purpose-built to get families moving year-round, with safety and privacy as core considerations in its intentional design. It is certified kidSAFE+ COPPA compliant and built to support healthy, active play for all ages and abilities.

Nex Playground features a growing library of 50+ experiences, including motion and dance games, fitness and educational experiences, and Nex Originals. Content includes collaborations with partners like Hasbro, Sesame Workshop, and NBCUniversal. Nex has been recognized by Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, TIME’s Best Inventions, and Parents’ Best Entertainment System for Families, and has earned Red Dot, IDEA, and Core77 international design awards. We encourage you to explore Have Fun and Is Motion Gaming Back?, as they offer a deeper look into our culture, values, and explain how our approach to motion gaming differs from previous generations.

Location: Hong Kong 
Type: Full Time 

The Role

As our Game Designer (Systems & Meta), you will define the rules of play for the next generation of family entertainment. You will take ownership of the player journey, designing systems that turn short bursts of physical activity into long-term habits for families around the world.

You will answer the question: "I just finished a great 10-minute game session — why do I want to come back tomorrow?" You are the architect of the habit loop, ensuring that physical effort translates into digital satisfaction and meaningful growth. You will take the core gameplay experiences created by our team and wrap them in compelling meta-systems — progression loops, economies, and unlock paths — that give players a reason to return.

You will work across our diverse library — from sports titles to arcade games — collaborating with engineers, artists, designers, the Publishing team, and the Content Ops team to structure the "Why" behind the movement. You aren't just designing for immediate fun; you are designing the long-term motivation that turns physical effort into a lasting daily habit.

What You'll Do

• Own the meta-game lifecycle from proposal to polish, designing systems (unlocks, leveling, leaderboards) that foster Mastery and Connection to ensure our games offer depth beyond the initial novelty.
• Apply intentional design thinking to every project, proactively clarifying target audiences and high-level goals to ensure every mechanic is backed by a clear "why" rather than random creativity.
• Act as the guardian of documentation and process, writing crystal-clear Game Design Documents (GDD) for the organization. You will ensure that as gameplay iterates, the documentation is up to date so that disciplines like Engineering, Design, QA, and Publishing are always aligned on the current feature set.
• Iterate with an open mind, presenting multiple design options for every challenge and pivoting quickly based on team feedback and playtest data.
• Model game balance in spreadsheets, ensuring progression curves feel fair for a 6-year-old beginner and a competitive parent alike.
• Translate high-level publishing goals into concrete Live Ops plans and seasonal updates, using analytics (for example Mixpanel) to identify drop-off points and propose data-informed design fixes.

Must Have

• 3+ years of professional game systems and meta-game design experience, with a strong portfolio of shipped titles on Console, PC, mobile, or high-quality Casual platforms.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create crystal-clear documentation (flowcharts, GDDs) to eliminate ambiguity, while verbally persuading stakeholders and aligning the team around complex concepts.
• Strategic and intentional design thinking capabilities, allowing you to clarify high-level goals, research successful market examples, and ensure every mechanic is backed by clear reasoning and data rather than random ideas.
• A flexible, experimental mindset that prioritizes player experience over ego, enabling you to offer multiple design solutions for a single problem and pivot quickly if data or playtests prove there is a better way.
• Strong proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets, using spreadsheets to model progression curves, scoring systems, and meta-game balance to ensure the math supports the experience before implementation begins.

Should Have 

• A "Gamer's Brain" with a "Family Heart," understanding deep game mechanics while respecting and enjoying the challenge of designing for casual audiences.
• Understanding of how physical fatigue impacts player behavior. You recognize that players cannot "grind" for hours like in traditional games, so you design systems that respect physical limits and encourage the formation of healthy, consistent daily habits.
• Understanding of the "Parent vs. Child" dynamic, with the ability to design systems that balance difficulty so a 6-year-old beginner and a competitive parent can play together without frustration.
• Strong organizational habits and diligence regarding design documentation, ensuring the team always has a clear, up-to-date reference point for the current feature set.
• The humility to validate designs through observation, showing an eagerness to watch families playtest your work firsthand and validating your theories against the reality of how kids actually move and behave.
• A growth mindset and excitement to help define the design culture at a fast-growing company, establishing best practices that will scale with the team.

Nice to Have

• Experience with motion controls, VR/AR, or Kinect-style gaming.
• Experience in Live Ops management for mobile or service-based games.
• Proficiency in data visualization and analytics, using tools like Mixpanel, Tableau, or Looker to analyze game usage data and visualize player behavior trends.
• Deep understanding of the family/casual audience and the unique constraints of designing for broad age ranges.
• Basic familiarity with Unity (no coding required, but understanding the engine is helpful).
• A love for staying active and healthy, with a passion for helping others do the same.

We Offer

• Competitive compensation package.
• Flexible working hours and vacation policy.
• Product-driven culture that treasures talents and individual growth.
• Front-row seat and hands-on experience with cutting edge technologies in the evolving gaming field

Nex is located in San Jose, California, USA and Hong Kong. Learn more about us at nex.inc/who-we-are.

We encourage applications even if you don’t meet more than 50% of the requirements — we believe that experience comes in many forms!