Founding Game Designer

Founding Game Designer San Francisco, CA Job Details Full-time $80,000 - $110,000 a year 1 day ago Qualifications Game development Game design Senior level AI Prototypes Communication skills Generative AI Full Job Description Pebble - Founding Game Designer About us We're second-time founders and former Google and Synthesia leaders (Search, Voice, and Assistant). We're assembling a core team of engineers, artists and educators to build the interface between AI and childhood. The problem we're solving Kids between 6 and 10 spend hours every day on screens, but most digital content is passive (TV, YouTube) or repetitive (apps, games). Parents want safe, engaging, and educationally positive experiences. Kids crave play, parents crave development and safety, and the industry hasn't bridged that gap. Our product Pebble is building the first generative learning world. If you've read the Diamond Age, you know what that means. If you haven't, this video will bring you up to speed. Pebble first version is a 2D exploration game built in Godot 4. Children explore a procedurally generated world alongside an AI companion character they interact with through voice. Conversations are open-ended, not scripted. The companion isn't a sidekick, it's the core relationship that drives engagement, learning and emotional investment. The design challenge is unlike traditional game design. The world is generated and the narrative is emergent. The content adapts to each child's interests and developmental needs in real time. The game designer's job isn't to build levels, it's to design the systems and constraints that make a generative world feel coherent and worth coming back to. Founders Guillaume (CPTO): First product hire at Synthesia, where he scaled from $3 to $100M ARR and helped define the category of AI video. Spent 7 years at Google as a PM on Search. Dad of two (ages 7 and 9), giving him a front-row seat to what captivates and educates kids today. Lio (CEO): Second-time entrepreneur: founder of Neoplants, raised $25M+ from top-tier US investors. Ex-Google PMM, part of the original Google Assistant EMEA launch team (2017). Creative technologist and product builder with 15 years across tech, storytelling, and consumer launches. About you You think of yourself as a pirate. Wait, maybe that's too specific. A bear will do too. The point is, you want to bring something special to this world. Something wonderful. In corporate speak, we might say that we're looking for an ambitious and forward looking Game Designer who's excited at the prospect of inventing a new gaming paradigm with AI at its core. You're comfortable thinking from first principles about what makes a great game. You understand what AI will change and what will remain the same. You've worked on 2+ games from scratch, at reputable studios or on your own. You have strong opinions about what the future of games look like. What we're looking for, really, is someone who knows games in and out, and wants to join us to build something extraordinary for children. The role You'll be Pebble's first game designer, responsible for defining how an AI-powered world actually feels to play. That means designing the exploration systems, pacing, and progression mechanics that make kids want to come back, not through dark patterns, but through genuine curiosity and a deepening relationship with an AI companion character. You'll work at the intersection of game design, child development, and generative AI, building design frameworks from scratch in a Godot 4 environment where the content is procedural and the interactions are voice-driven. This is a unique opportunity to create a completely new kind of game experience that goes beyond entertainment. This is an opportunity to shape the future of parenting and education in the age of AI.

Requirements You have:

Shipped at least one game or interactive product where you owned core design decisions: progression, pacing, systems, or economy design. A portfolio or body of work that demonstrates systems thinking: you can show how you designed rules that produced emergent player behaviour, not just authored fixed content. The ability to prototype quickly and iterate based on playtesting, not just theory. Strong design communication skills. You can write a clear design doc, argue for a mechanic, and explain your reasoning to engineers and non-designers without hand-waving. You're comfortable with: Being the first designer. There's no existing design language, style guide, or established framework. You'll be making foundational calls with incomplete information and revising them as you learn. Providing a strong input on the visual side. You have a strong visual eye and opinions about art direction Designing for an audience that isn't you. Our players are 6-10 years old. You don't need a background in child development, but you need genuine curiosity about how kids think, play, and learn. Working with generative systems. Much of Pebble's content is procedural and AI-driven, which means you're designing constraints, rules, and possibility spaces rather than hand-crafting every encounter.

Nice to have:

Experience with Godot, or any 2D game engine's design/prototyping tools. Familiarity with educational game design, edutainment, or serious games. Interest in or exposure to AI/LLM-powered interactive experiences. Experience designing for young children or family audiences.

Genuinely optional:

Charizard card in mint condition to add to our cabinet of curiosities Work conditions Salary up to 80k-110k GBP depending on experience Strong equity component In person work from London Shoreditch, open to remote for the right candidate