Game Designer (Playable Ads)
Nexters is an international game development company that strives to introduce the joy of core gaming experiences to casual players. In 2021 we went public and listed on the NASDAQ (GDEV). Nexters is part of the GDEV holding, which includes not only Nexters, but also Cubic Games, Royal Ark and Game Gears.
Our people work worldwide from offices in Cyprus, Armenia, and Kazakhstan or remotely. We want brilliant professionals who love building great games in a team with one of the best cultures.
About your role
We are looking for a Game Designer to join our RnD Playable Ads team.
The team is intentionally small: one developer and one Game Designer working closely together with minimal bureaucracy. The goal is simple - move fast, test hypotheses, learn from the results, and turn successful ideas into a repeatable playbook for Playables.
This is a hands-on role. You will not just write concepts or requirements, you will build prototypes, configure Playables, study the market, iterate on ideas, and take ownership of the results.
What you’ll be doing
- Creating Playables end-to-end, from the initial concept to a working and tested prototype
- Studying large volumes of competitors’ creatives and identifying the mechanics, visual patterns, and gameplay hooks that actually attract users
- Extracting gameplay motivations from video creatives and turning them into fast, engaging mini-games with repetitive and satisfying visual progression
- Rapidly testing and iterating on gameplay hypotheses, using results to decide what to improve, change, or discard
- Building and continuously developing your own “cookbook” - a structured database of successful creative + playable combinations and the patterns behind them
- Hands-on configuration and development of Playables, rapid prototyping, and vibe coding
- Working with tools such as Cocos, Lua, and other technologies, while being comfortable learning new tools when the task requires them
- Working closely with the Playables Developer and sharing ownership of the product and its results
- Keeping processes lightweight and focusing on outcomes rather than unnecessary documentation
We hope that you have
- Experience working with core game prototypes or core gameplay
- Experience working in R&D or another environment where rapid experimentation and iteration are important
- A strong interest in understanding why certain gameplay mechanics and creatives work
- The ability and willingness to work in a very small cross-functional team with minimal bureaucracy
- A hands-on mindset — you enjoy building and testing things yourself rather than only describing what others should build
- The ability to independently and quickly figure out new and unfamiliar tools, technologies, and problems
- A high level of ownership: you are comfortable taking responsibility for a hypothesis, testing it, and making decisions based on the result
- Curiosity about new technologies and no fear of experimenting with unfamiliar tools
What we offer
- Healthcare - Medical care program (including dental service) or medical care compensation are available for you wherever you wish to work. The basic medical care program is also available for your family members if you choose to work from our official locations – Cyprus, Armenia, and Kazakhstan.
- Work, life, and balance - We offer a fair amount of paid vacation days and sick leave. You can work at one of our comfortable offices in official locations or from home.
- Sports - You can choose various sports activities like yoga, football, and volleyball in our official locations.
- Relocation support - A relocation package is available for you if you decide to join us in one of our official locations.
- Skills improvement - Let's learn languages: you can visit online English language courses. Greek and Armenian language lessons are available for everyone who works in Cyprus or Armenia. Our company encourages people of Nexters to take part in game jams, hackathons, and relevant conferences and meetups as expert speakers.
- Community & ESG - We are proud of our local communities and support employees’ social initiatives. Dream big, act big: Nexters contribute to gaming’s positive impact on the world, hold a sustainability strategy, and take part in charity projects all over the world.
Work format
Remotely or in one of the company's offices in Armenia, Cyprus and Kazakhstan.
