1

Principal Game Designer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Principal Product Designer, Core

Austin, TX · On-site

$230K - $320K/yr

But for people with fire in their belly, it's a game-changing, career-defining, soul-lifting move ... The Opportunity BetterUp is looking for a Principal Product Designer to join our Design team and ...

School Leader/Principal

Saginaw, MI · On-site

$75K - $105K/yr

GATA is opening Fall 2026, is seeking a highly effective and innovative Principal to lead a K-8 school designed to integrate strong academic instruction with gaming, technology, and real-world ...

... MSN, gaming, and other key consumer surfaces. You will work on everything from traditional ... As a Principal Product Designer, you will bring the technical skills, leadership, and passion that ...

next page

Showing results 1-20

Principal Game Designer information

See salary details

$47K

$156K

How much do principal game designer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal game designer in the United States is $149,118.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $155,000.00 and $155,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the main responsibilities of a Principal Game Designer on a development team?

A Principal Game Designer typically leads the overall vision and direction for game design, ensuring that mechanics, systems, and user experiences align with both player expectations and business goals. They often mentor and guide junior designers, facilitate cross-functional collaboration with artists, engineers, and producers, and provide feedback to help refine gameplay features. Day-to-day responsibilities include reviewing design documents, conducting playtests, analyzing player feedback, and making high-level decisions regarding game balance and progression. This role is both highly creative and strategic, requiring a balance of hands-on design work and leadership within the broader development team.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Principal Game Designer position, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Principal Game Designer, you need advanced skills in game mechanics, systems design, user experience, and a strong portfolio demonstrating shipped titles, often backed by a relevant degree or equivalent professional experience. Proficiency with industry-standard tools such as Unity, Unreal Engine, and collaborative project management systems is typically required. Strong leadership, creative vision, and exceptional communication abilities set outstanding candidates apart. These competencies are crucial for leading design teams, shaping high-impact game features, and ensuring the successful delivery of complex projects.

What is a Principal Game Designer job?

A Principal Game Designer is a senior role responsible for leading the design vision and implementation of a game. They collaborate with directors, producers, and other teams to ensure cohesive gameplay mechanics, systems, and player experience. They provide mentorship to designers, establish best practices, and help solve complex design challenges. Their work influences the game's overall direction, ensuring it aligns with the creative and business goals.

More about Principal Game Designer jobs
What cities are hiring for Principal Game Designer jobs? Cities with the most Principal Game Designer job openings:
What states have the most Principal Game Designer jobs? States with the most job openings for Principal Game Designer jobs include:
Infographic showing various Principal Game Designer job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 60% Full Time, 34% Part Time, 3% Temporary, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 94% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 4% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $149,118 per year, or $71.7 per hour.

Principal Product Designer, Sports

NBCUniversal

New York, NY

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Posted 6 days ago


Job description

Company Description

NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our global theme park destinations, consumer products, and experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, and Peacock, our premium ad-supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through our powerhouse film and television studios, including Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, and Focus Features, and the four global television studios under the Universal Studio Group banner, and operate industry-leading theme parks and experiences around the world through Universal Destinations & Experiences, including Universal Orlando Resort, home to Universal Epic Universe, and Universal Studios Hollywood. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. Visit www.nbcuniversal.com for more information.

Our impact is rooted in improving the communities where our employees, customers, and audiences live and work. We have a rich tradition of giving back and ensuring our employees have the opportunity to serve their communities. We champion an inclusive culture and strive to attract and develop a talented workforce to create and deliver a wide range of content reflecting our world.

Job Description

The Media Group at NBCU supports a powerhouse collection of consumer-first brands including Peacock, NBC, Bravo, NBC Sports, and NBCU International. With unequalled scale, our teams make the most out of every opportunity to collaborate and learn from one another. We’re always looking for ways to innovate faster, accelerate our growth and consistently offer the very best in consumer experience. But most of all, we’re backed by a culture of respect. We embrace authenticity and inspire people to thrive.

The Global Streaming Platform powers the best entertainment experiences from Peacock, NOW/WOW, SkyShowtime, and Showmax. When you join our team, you'll work across our dynamic portfolio supported by media industry leaders Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Sky. With unequalled scale, our teams make the most out of every opportunity to collaborate and learn from one another. We're always looking for ways to innovate faster, accelerate our growth, and consistently offer a best-in-class consumer experience across more than 70 countries. Most importantly, we're backed by a culture of respect. We embrace authenticity and inspire our people to thrive.  

The Viewing Product team lives and breathes design excellence. We’re a cross-functional team of product managers, UX researchers, UX designers, product engineers, and data scientists. Here you’ll find more than a job. You’ll find a fast-paced, high-performance team of incredible colleagues that want to be at the epicenter of technology, sports, news, TV, movies and more. Our work is central to our mission to deliver a future-focused user experience across our best-in-class streaming platforms. Together, we’re focused on getting customers to content they love, faster and easier. 

What You’ll Do:
As a Principal Designer on the Playback Experience team,
you will define the vision, strategy, and design direction for the product areas that shape how audiences experience live content and entertainment on Peacock. You’ll guide multiple projects and designers to ensure alignment with our organization’s goals, design principles, and long-term product vision.

Our team is focused on delivering best-in-class sports and playback experiences across TV, Web, and Mobile. From live events and dynamic data integrations to intuitive replays, highlights, and lean-back viewing, you’ll help craft experiences that meet viewers where they are and elevate how they watch.

This role requires a visionary design leader who can translate user needs, whether during a high-energy game or a relaxed viewing session, into elegant, impactful, cross-platform experiences. You’ll drive innovation, foster collaboration across disciplines, and shape the future of how audiences watch and connect with Peacock.
As a Principal Designer, you will:

  • Deliver production-ready UX designs aligned with overarching business and UX goals for domestic and international audiences.
  • Identify actionable insights and ensure they align with long-term design and product strategies.
  • Drive stakeholder and leadership alignment around research insights and design decisions.
  • Rapidly drive progress of existing work (experience designs, UX guides, information architecture, visual designs, etc.) to project completion.
  • Collaborate with the larger UX team around ideation and concept explorations throughout project lifecycles; you’ll facilitate and drive UX solutions, discussions, and planning while maintaining project oversight.
  • Lead others. Grow talent. Provide creative direction and mentorship to designers and define patterns and practices for the team and the product. Share findings with fellow designers and capture findings in visual form.
  • Maintain a critical eye and an obsessive attention to detail.
Qualifications

Experience and Skills Must-Haves

  • You’re a seasoned designer with relentlessly high standards and deep operational knowledge across every aspect of UX and product design — especially in crafting dynamic, data-rich sports and live content experiences.
  • You’re thoughtful and curious, always learning from both fans and teammates. You stay fully versed in consumer digital product trends, emerging technologies, and interaction models shaping the future of how fans watch, play, and engage with sports.
  • You listen to the voice of the fan and let data guide your decisions — blending qualitative insights with performance metrics to design experiences that resonate in real time.
  • You identify the most impactful ideas and push them through a rigorous course of evaluation, experimentation, and release — from early concept to game-day execution.
  • You’re a storyteller and strong communicator, able to articulate design rationale and rally cross-functional partners around a shared vision for sports innovation.
  • You can speak confidently to industry best practices, evolving fan behaviors, market strategies, and competitor standards in the sports streaming space.
  • You’re scrappy, driven, and the natural owner of both bold ideas and practical, high-quality output — equally comfortable defining the big picture or jumping into the details.
  • You thrive in a fast-paced, live environment where iteration is constant, collaboration is key, and the next big sporting moment is always around the corner.
  • You’re fluid and adaptable — able to pivot seamlessly between projects, platforms, and priorities as the sports calendar evolves.

Qualifications:

  • Degree in design, computer science, human factors or equivalent work experience
  • Design professional with 10 or more years of relevant work experience
  • Proven experience as design leader with ability to direct others through creative process
  • Ability to clearly communicate design solutions to stakeholders.
  • Understanding of interaction design principles
  • Demonstrable fluency with Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
  • Has experience in and knowledge of UX/prototyping development and motion graphics best practices.
  • Excellent collaborative skills with critical thinking and creative problem-solving abilities
  • Ability to operate independently and manage multiple projects in a deadline-driven environment
  • Strong portfolio of solid web, mobile and digital-media required
  • Deep knowledge of cross-platform usability standards and UI specifications.
  • Understanding of platforms like Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, Apple TV,  X1, etc.
  • Experience with accessibility, localization, and internationalization best practices.

Hybrid: This position currently has a hybrid schedule, which requires contributing from the office a minimum of four days per week. The Company reserves the right to change in-office requirements at any time.

This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks. Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website. Salary range: $180,000 - $225,000 (bonus and long-term incentive eligible).


Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to AccessibilitySupport@nbcuni.com.