Game Systems Engineer

Pipeworks Studios•Eugene, OR

8d•$92,000 - $110,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Pipeworks Studios is seeking an experienced Engineer. This is a hands-on individual-contributor role for an engineer who can work autonomously, own the technical design, development, and rollout of medium-complexity features and systems, and help the broader team succeed. The ideal candidate will work independently, communicate clearly about progress and risks, stay open to feedback, and enjoy working directly with content creators. This role may involve coordinating work with one or two other engineers, but it does not require formal people management or ownership of an entire project.

Requirements

Substantial professional experience developing and delivering production software in a collaborative environment.
Proficiency in C++ with familiarity in C#
Proficiency in at least three game engineering domains, such as gameplay, UI, animation, graphics, performance optimization, networking, online services, web development, tools, or automated testing.
Demonstrated ability to own medium-complexity features or systems from technical design through rollout and ongoing support.
Strong debugging, resourcefulness, and systems-thinking skills, including the judgment to investigate methodically and ask for help when appropriate.
Consistent commitment to code quality, testing, maintainability, defensive programming, and team best practices.
Ability to work autonomously in a large or interconnected codebase while remaining patient and open to feedback.
Clear, direct, professional, and concise communication, including proactive updates about progress, risks, dependencies, and requests for help.

Nice To Haves

Experience shipping a commercial game or another substantial production release.
Experience shipping a AAA project
Experience working across multiple platforms, including PC or console.
Experience with performance optimization, memory management, multithreading, networking, backend services, tools, automated testing, build systems, or development workflows.
Experience mentoring engineers or improving team documentation, processes, and coding practices.
Experience working directly with clients or external development partners.

Responsibilities

Own the technical design, development, testing, documentation, rollout, and support of medium-complexity features and systems.
Break larger bodies of work into smaller tasks, provide first-pass estimates, and coordinate implementation with one or two other engineers when appropriate.
Parallelize work across active development, code review, automated testing, feedback, and questions so progress continues while dependencies are resolved.
Translate product and creative goals into practical technical solutions, identifying dependencies, risks, edge cases, and tradeoffs early.
Treat systems as if they are already live by writing defensive code, maintaining high attention to detail, and communicating risks before they affect the team.
Write consistently high-quality, readable, maintainable, and well-tested code that follows team conventions.
Investigate difficult bugs and technical issues using debuggers, profilers, logs, source control, documentation, and other appropriate tools.
Work autonomously in a large or unfamiliar codebase, keep Jira tickets, statuses, and estimates current throughout sprints, and communicate status so progress and problems are visible.
Participate proactively across engineering, design, art, production, QA, and other team channels; ask questions early, reduce ambiguity, and help the group reach positive outcomes.