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Blizzard Entertainment · 1 day ago

Principal Game Designer, Hearthstone | Irvine, CA

Irvine, CA

Full-time

Hybrid

Lead/Staff

$117K/yr - $216K/yr

10+ years exp

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a Principal Game Designer to join the Hearthstone card design team. The role involves creating engaging cards and mechanics for Hearthstone’s future expansions, leveraging player insight and creativity to enhance player experiences.

MMO GamesSoftwareVideo Games

H1B Sponsor Likely

Responsibilities

Create engaging cards and mechanics for Hearthstone’s future expansions that deliver strategic depth and fun while remaining approachable

Leverage your knowledge of Hearthstone and the universe of Warcraft to design and develop cards, concepts, and flavor that encapsulates the charm of Hearthstone

Script and implement cards using internal tools

Participate in playtests and foster a culture of collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement by providing thoughtful feedback

Advocate for and explain product vision and design decisions both inside and outside the initial design team

Champion the player experience at every stage of development, ensuring gameplay remains fun, rewarding, and fresh through ongoing support and content updates

Qualification

Game design experienceCard game mechanicsProject managementLive service game designContent creation pipelinesCollaborationCreativityCommunicationOwnership

Required

10+ years of professional game design experience, including at least 3 years in a content design role on a live service game in the CCG or strategy game genre

Familiarity with live service game design, including content pipelines, seasonal events, and time-limited challenges

Proven success leading multi-disciplinary teams in aligning goals and delivering content from initial concept through launch, while holding the bar high for quality and player impact

Deep understanding of card game mechanics, tuning, and player motivations

Strong project management skills and a great understanding of what players find fun

Ability to take initiative and manage responsibilities independently, demonstrating strong ownership and accountability

Being an advocate for simple, intuitive, and future-proof design

A good understanding of when to control scope and when to encourage exploration to find the right balance when aiming for a specific deadline

Confident in speaking up or giving voice to dissenting opinions constructively

Proven ability to work collaboratively within teams and foster productive partnerships across all departments

Strong documentation practices that clearly communicate design intent and build alignment

Cover Letter

Resume

Preferred

Experience playing a CCG at a competitive or high skill level

Active player of a variety of mobile titles, especially turn-based strategy games

Experience working with or helping define content creation pipelines and tools for fast iteration and designer-friendly workflows

Experience implementing game content using a programming or scripting language

Benefits

Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance

401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching

Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave

Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others

If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance

Company

Blizzard Entertainment

Glassdoor3.5

Blizzard Entertainment develops and publishes gaming software and computer games such as World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and StarCraft.

Founded in 1991

Irvine, California, USA

1001-5000 employees

http://blizzard.com

H1B Sponsorship

Blizzard Entertainment has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)

Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship

Represents job field similar to this job

Trends of Total Sponsorships

2025 (60)

2024 (58)

2023 (46)

2022 (51)

2021 (38)

2020 (41)