Electronic Arts

Principal Game Designer - EA SPORTS™ UFC

EA SPORTS is one of the most iconic brands in entertainment, connecting hundreds of millions of players to the sports they love. The EA SPORTS UFC franchise brings the spectacle and intensity of mixed martial arts to a global audience through inventive technology and authentic gameplay. Our team is driven by a mission to build the world’s greatest fighting game, and we are looking for a rising Production leader to help us get there.

We are looking for a Principal Game Designer to help shape the creative direction of UFC. You will operate as a strategic, senior craft leader—driving content, systems, and live service design while partnering closely with cross-disciplinary leaders to bring our vision to life. This role blends world-building, systems thinking, live service expertise, and top-tier execution. You will report to the Creative Director (or Design Director, depending on team structure).

Responsibilities:

• Partner with creative leadership to define and uphold the design direction across systems, content, and live service features.
• Drive the creation, implementation, and iteration of core features, content, and live service programs from concept to completion.
• Design and tune gameplay, events, and social systems that keep players engaged, connected, and returning.
• Guide and mentor members of the design team, establish best practices, and elevate overall design quality.
• Work closely with engineering, art, narrative, production, and QA to ensure features are built, tested, and delivered at a high standard.
• Analyze playtests, telemetry, and community insights to refine features and make informed design decisions.
• Identify risks, propose solutions, and help strengthen pipelines, tools, and workflows supporting live service development.

Qualifications:

• 8+ years of professional game design experience, including senior leadership on at least one shipped AAA title.
• Proven expertise designing content, systems, and/or narrative for action-oriented or fighting games.
• Experience designing and operating features for live service titles.
• Demonstrated ability to write clear, detailed design documentation that communicates intent, flow, and technical requirements.
• Hands-on implementation skills using scripting, content pipelines, or proprietary tools (e.g., Frostbite, Unreal Engine, Unity).
• Strong analytical mindset with experience tuning features based on data, playtests, and community feedback.
• Exceptional collaboration, communication, and mentorship skills.
• Deep understanding of sports culture and fandom.

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

In British Columbia, 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.