Senior Enemy Designer

Action RPG | Soulslike | Unreal Engine 5

Cactus Punch is looking for a strong Senior Enemy Designer to join our development team and help shape an ambitious Dark Fantasy Action RPG built in Unreal Engine 5.

This is a hands-on design role for someone who understands that great enemies are more than just numbers, animations, and attack patterns. You’ll be responsible for creating enemies that challenge, surprise, and engage players while supporting the game’s overall combat vision, pacing, and progression.

You’ll work closely with Game Design, Programming, Art, and Animation to take enemy concepts from initial ideas and prototypes through implementation and balancing.

What You’ll Do

• Enemy Design: Design and implement diverse enemy archetypes, combat behaviors, abilities, attack patterns, and boss encounters that challenge players while fitting the game’s pacing and overall design vision.
• Combat & Balancing: Define and fine-tune enemy stats, damage, health, abilities, aggression, and difficulty to create a challenging but fair combat experience.
• AI & Behaviors: Work closely with programmers to design and iterate on enemy AI behaviors, combat logic, encounters, and gameplay interactions.
• Cross-Department Collaboration: Act as a bridge between Design, Art, Animation, and Programming, providing clear and constructive feedback to ensure enemies function and feel as intended.
• Prototyping: Rapidly prototype and test new enemy mechanics and gameplay ideas using Unreal Engine 5 Blueprints.
• Iteration: Analyze gameplay results, identify weaknesses, and continuously improve enemy design based on playtests and team feedback.
• Documentation: Create and maintain clear design documentation covering enemy behaviors, abilities, combat parameters, encounters, and balancing.
• Player Experience: Think from the player’s perspective and ensure that every enemy encounter contributes to tension, challenge, progression, and overall combat flow.

What We Expect

• Experience: 4+ years of professional experience as a Game Designer on commercial game projects.
• Track Record: Experience contributing to at least one shipped PC or console title, ideally with involvement throughout the full production cycle, from pre-production to release, with a strong focus on enemy design and combat balancing.
• Technical Proficiency: Hands-on experience with Unreal Engine 4/5, particularly Blueprint visual scripting and understanding of State Trees.
• Combat Design: Strong understanding of combat systems, enemy archetypes, gameplay loops, player psychology, difficulty curves, and combat pacing.
• Design Mindset: Ability to translate creative ideas into clear gameplay systems, mechanics, and implementable solutions.
• Communication: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to clearly explain design decisions and effectively collaborate with other disciplines.
• Independence: Proactive, self-driven, and capable of making informed design decisions while working under tight deadlines.
• Tools: Experience with Jira and version control systems such as Perforce or Git.
• Documentation: Ability to create and maintain clear and structured technical and game design documentation.
• Language: English B2/C1 or higher, with the ability to communicate effectively in a professional development environment.

Nice to Have

• Experience designing enemies for third-person combat systems.
• Professional experience working on Soulslike, Action RPG, or Dark Fantasy projects.
• Experience with GAS
• A strong passion for Soulslike and action combat games.
• Strong mathematical and analytical skills for combat and game balancing.
• Knowledge of scripting languages or experience in Technical Game Design.
• Experience designing boss encounters and complex multi-phase enemy behaviors.
• Experience working with gameplay telemetry, playtest data, or other methods of analyzing player behavior.

What We Offer

• Remote-first work — work from anywhere and collaborate with an international development team.
• Competitive salary — compensation is negotiable and based on your experience and expertise.
• Ambitious project — an original Dark Fantasy Action RPG with a strong focus on challenging third-person combat, memorable enemies, and immersive gameplay.
• High level of ownership — your decisions will directly influence the enemy design, combat experience, and overall quality of the game.
• Creative freedom — an opportunity to bring your own ideas to the project and see them implemented in the game.
• Professional growth — the opportunity to grow into a Lead Enemy Designer / Lead Game Designer role as the project and team develop.
• Influence on the project — you’ll join the team at a stage where your expertise can have a meaningful impact on the direction and quality of the game.
• Long-term opportunity — the chance to grow together with the project and become a key member of the development team.

About the Project

We are developing an ambitious Dark Fantasy Action RPG inspired by the best elements of the Soulslike genre, combining challenging third-person combat, atmospheric worldbuilding, powerful enemy encounters, and a dark fantasy setting.

We are looking for someone who doesn’t just want to design enemies, but wants to help define how players feel, think, and fight throughout the game.

If you are passionate about combat design, enjoy solving complex gameplay problems, and want to have a real impact on an ambitious original IP, we’d love to hear from you.