Game Designer / Localization Puzzle Editor - Games

As a Puzzle Editor, you will help create high-quality games that a broad audience of gamers and casual players can play and love. You will work closely with your team to develop, edit, and curate logic, visual, and word puzzles for a broad audience with general knowledge. You will build a strong understanding of what makes a puzzle enjoyable, satisfying, and motivating, and apply it to the puzzles you and others create. You will continually gather feedback to improve current and future puzzles, staying passionate about pop culture and incorporating it into your work.

Must Have

• Curate and help produce high-quality series of puzzles based on general knowledge and a range of skills for daily play
• Work with IP stakeholders to incorporate themes, motifs, and specific knowledge of Netflix properties into puzzles for short-run IP-themed events
• Create tightly focused, challenging puzzle groups for aficionados and to help players improve their skills
• Learn from player data and opinions to improve the quality bar for content in the game
• Collaborate with game designers, UX designers, and engineers to craft or adapt new puzzle types for inclusion in the portfolio
• Follow and possibly predict trending topics to keep puzzle content fresh, relevant, and timely
• Collaborate with remote teams to build and evaluate new puzzles for the portfolio
• Localize puzzle content, ensuring puzzles are accurately and engagingly localized into languages other than English
• Act as the primary linguistic and cultural expert for your native language
• Go beyond direct translation to adapt puzzles for cultural relevance and appropriateness
• Stay up to date with current trends, pop culture, and language usage within your culture
• Review and edit localized puzzles to guarantee linguistic accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and a high-quality player experience
• Gather and analyze player feedback in your language community, using insights to refine and improve localized puzzle content
• Work closely with localization teams, puzzle creators, and stakeholders to ensure consistent quality and voice across all languages and regions
• A broad understanding of pop culture, general knowledge material common to puzzle content, and the landscape of logic and word puzzles
• Ability to improve upon puzzles written by others, including providing coaching and reasoning behind the changes to improve future work
• Long-term experience playing logic and word puzzles across multiple styles and platforms
• Excellent communication, leadership, and organization skills
• Commitment to player-centric, collaborative, and iterative development
• Skilled in creating and maintaining thorough documentation and building shared understanding
• Native-level fluency in the target language, with excellent written communication skills and a deep understanding of linguistic nuances, idioms, and local expressions
• In-depth knowledge of cultural norms, taboos, and trends in the relevant region(s)
• Ability to spot and correct subtle issues in language, tone, and cultural fit
• Skilled at explaining cultural considerations to non-native colleagues and advocating for the needs of your language community

Good to Have

• Prior direct experience in creating or editing puzzles such as Sudokus, crosswords, or similar for publication for players in print, on the web, in an app or game, or similar
• Prior experience in translation, localization, or cultural adaptation for games, media, or entertainment

Job Requisition ID

JR37560

Teams

Next Games

Work Type

Onsite

Netflix is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with over 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.

Who We Are

Next Games, founded in 2013 and based in Helsinki, Finland, crafts cutting-edge, approachable games for a global audience, inspired by popular Netflix shows and movies, as well as our own fresh ideas. We combine the Finnish game development culture with Netflix's global entertainment culture, embracing the strengths of both and empowering our talented and diverse teams to deliver their best work to date.

The Role

As a Puzzle Editor, you will help create high-quality games that a broad audience of gamers and casual players can play and love. In this role, you will work closely with your team to develop, edit, and curate logic, visual, and word puzzles for a broad audience with general knowledge.

You will build a strong understanding of what makes a puzzle enjoyable, satisfying, and motivating, and both communicate that understanding to puzzle creators and apply it to the puzzles you and others create. You will continually gather feedback and use it to improve current and future puzzles. Your excellent communication skills and strong sense of teamwork make you a supportive collaborator. You are passionate about pop culture, able to stay up-to-date with what is happening on and around Netflix to incorporate that into the puzzles you produce, and a long-time avid enjoyer of these puzzles in your own gaming life.

Responsibilities

• Prior direct experience in creating or editing puzzles such as Sudokus, crosswords, or similar for publication for players in print, on the web, in an app or game, or similar is extremely valuable, but not explicitly required.
• Curate and help produce a high-quality series of puzzles based on general knowledge and a range of skills for daily play.
• Work with IP stakeholders to incorporate themes, motifs, and specific knowledge of Netflix properties into puzzles for short-run IP-themed events.
• Create tightly focused, challenging puzzle groups for aficionados and to help players improve their skills.
• Learn from player data and opinions to improve the quality bar for content in the game.
• Collaborate with game designers, UX designers, and engineers to craft or adapt new puzzle types for inclusion in the portfolio.
• Follow [and possibly] predict trending topics to keep puzzle content fresh, relevant, and timely.
• Collaborate with remote teams to build and evaluate new puzzles for the portfolio.

Localization & Cultural Adaptation (Latam Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese)

• Localize puzzle content: Ensure puzzles are accurately and engagingly localized into languages other than English, maintaining the original intent, challenge, and enjoyment for each audience.
• Mother tongue fluency: Act as the primary linguistic and cultural expert for your native language. Multiple positions are available for a range of languages.
• Cultural adaptation: Go beyond direct translation to adapt puzzles for cultural relevance and appropriateness, ensuring that clues, references, humor, and themes resonate with local audiences and avoid culturally sensitive or inappropriate content.
• Trend awareness: Stay up to date with current trends, pop culture, and language usage within your culture, and incorporate this knowledge into puzzle content to keep it fresh and appealing.
• Quality assurance: Review and edit localized puzzles to guarantee linguistic accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and a high-quality player experience.
• Feedback integration: Gather and analyze player feedback in your language community, using insights to refine and improve localized puzzle content.
• Collaboration: Work closely with localization teams, puzzle creators, and stakeholders to ensure consistent quality and voice across all languages and regions.

Skills and Experience

• Preferred experience in creating or editing puzzles such as Sudokus, crosswords, or similar for publication for players in print, on the web, in an app or game, or similar.
• A broad understanding of pop culture, general knowledge material common to puzzle content, and the landscape of logic and word puzzles.
• Ability to improve upon puzzles written by others, including providing coaching and reasoning behind the changes to improve future work.
• Long-term experience playing logic and word puzzles across multiple styles and platforms.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and organization skills.
• Commitment to player-centric, collaborative, and iterative development.
• Skilled in creating and maintaining thorough documentation and building shared understanding.

Additional Skills for Localization & Cultural Adaptation

• Native-level fluency: Native speaker of the target language, with excellent written communication skills and a deep understanding of linguistic nuances, idioms, and local expressions.
• Cultural expertise: In-depth knowledge of cultural norms, taboos, and trends in the relevant region(s).
• Localization experience: Prior experience in translation, localization, or cultural adaptation for games, media, or entertainment is highly valuable.
• Attention to detail: Ability to spot and correct subtle issues in language, tone, and cultural fit.
• Cross-cultural communication: Skilled at explaining cultural considerations to non-native colleagues and advocating for the needs of your language community.

The Team

You’ll join a diverse studio environment, working primarily from our Helsinki office. We value transparent communication, proactive problem-solving, and enthusiasm for crafting accessible experiences. As the Puzzle Editor, you will play a key role in shaping the future of our player experiences at Next Games.

Inclusion

is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.