Founded in 2010, Respawn was created with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom, they’ll make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. Respawn Entertainment is the Academy Award-winning studio behind Apex Legends, Titanfall, and Star Wars™ Jedi titles. Join us to help shape the future of one of the world’s leading live service franchises.

Respawn Entertainment is looking for a passionate and experienced Lead Systems Designer to shape and evolve the player progression and reward ecosystems of Apex Legends. In this role, you will help define experiences that motivate, delight, and retain players throughout their journey in the Apex Games - balancing fun, fairness, and long-term engagement in a live service context. You will work closely with design, UX, product management, analytics, and engineering partners to drive systems that elevate the Apex Legends franchise.

As a Lead Systems Designer reporting to the Senior Systems Director, you will focus on defining, implementing, tuning, and iterating on progression paths, reward loops, economy frameworks, and engagement mechanics that resonate with Apex Legends players across platforms. Your work will ensure our systems are both player-centric and built for scale within a fast-moving live service environment. You will be based onsite in one of our studio locations (e.g., Los Angeles, Vancouver, Madison) and partner cross functionally to deliver world-class game experiences.

Responsibilities 

• Own the design and iteration of player progression and reward systems, including leveling, challenges, and long-term engagement loops
• Create high-level documentation that clarifies the vision and goals of various systems and how they interact with other parts of the game
• Write detailed design documents that fuels implementation and fully works out the nuances of progression systems
• Create progression system models in tools like Excel, Google Sheets, or languages like Python to iterate on and balance complex and interconnected systems
• Partner with cross-functional teams to build, ship, and scale player-centric systems that support key game goals
• Use data, player insights, and live performance to inform decisions and continuously improve system outcomes
• Communicate designs, goals, and trade-offs clearly while advocating for player-first, high-quality experiences

Qualifications 

• 10+ years of systems design experience on live service games, with demonstrable work on progression and/or reward systems
• Strong collaboration skills and experience communicating design intent to cross-disciplinary teams
• Deep understanding of live service engagement loops, player motivation models, and meta-progression frameworks
• Expertise in game progression and the under the hood work drives it
• Experience leveraging analytics and player feedback to iterate and improve system outcomes
• Ability to create high-quality design documents and prototypes that clearly articulate goals, success metrics, and implementation assumptions
• Passion for competitive and live service games, especially Apex Legends and similar titles
• Competitive multiplayer experience
• Familiarity with balancing economies, player retention mechanics, or incentive structures
• Experience with scripting, data tools, or technical implementation that enables rapid prototyping and iteration of systems

Pay Transparency - North America

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS 

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs). 

PAY RANGES

* British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria) *$133,500 - $186,400 CAD

* California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. San Francisco) *$153,700 - $233,600 USD

Pay is just one part of the overall compensation at EA.

In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.  

For Canada, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Electronic Arts

We’re proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. From leadership that brings out your potential, to creating space for learning and experimenting, we empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth.

We adopt a holistic approach to our benefits programs, emphasizing physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life. Our packages are tailored to meet local needs and may include healthcare coverage, mental well-being support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leaves, complimentary games, and more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.