Lead Gameplay Engineer | Fully Remote

Escape Velocity Entertainment Inc

5h•Remote

About The Position

Escape Velocity is seeking a Lead Gameplay Engineer to shape the technical vision for character, camera, and combat (3C) gameplay in a fast-paced game built with Unreal Engine 5. The role bridges design intent and technical implementation, developing systems that feel responsive to players, scale with the game, and ship on schedule. The lead will manage a team of gameplay engineers while remaining hands-on in code, with opportunities to influence both the game and development practices. The position leads the development of weapons, mobility, and camera systems from prototype through shipping, including supporting data-driven systems. It works closely with Design, Animation, Production, and Technical Art to architect and deliver gameplay systems, tools, and content validation. The Lead Gameplay Engineer is accountable for team planning and deliverables, system performance and stability, engineering standards, and the mentorship and career development of approximately five direct reports. The role also champions automation, agentic workflows, and test-driven development while keeping human review central. Escape Velocity is a fully remote studio supporting team members nearly anywhere in the world. The company emphasizes autonomy, honesty, a culture of play, continuous improvement, and focus on making effective use of employees’ time. It is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants based on qualifications and demonstrated ability to perform the role.

Requirements

Shipped character movement, camera, and combat/shooting systems.
Track record of shipping AAA titles through a full development cycle and/or a live-service game post-launch.
Shipped networked gameplay involving prediction, lag compensation, and hit registration.
Proven delivery against production schedules, including planning, anticipating work, and meeting deliverables.
Proactive engineering leadership, including reviewing work, guiding architecture and design, unblocking engineers, and supporting career growth.
Hands-on Unreal Engine 5 experience, or a proven track record of adapting across engines.
Strong game C++ skills, including performance, memory management, and low-level profiling and debugging when needed.
Hands-on experience with data-driven ability, combat, mobility, or camera systems, including building or extending systems or understanding frameworks such as GAS and Unreal movement and camera systems internally.
Data-driven mindset, deep understanding of game design, and a holistic view of the game aligned with product and design intent.
Strong cross-discipline communication and ability to take large features from concept to completion.
Open-mindedness and flexibility as priorities, assignments, and the role evolve across development phases.
Curiosity and sound judgment, including clearly framing problems, delegating effectively, critically verifying results, and articulating how tools such as Claude Code or Cursor have changed the way you work.

Nice To Haves

Experience refactoring or building production-grade, scalable gameplay systems.
Shipped action games or developed deep expertise in action games with fast, responsive combat.
Experience with animation systems such as Animation Blueprints, motion matching, or root motion.
Experience with varied networking models such as replication, rollback, or snapshot; console or mobile platforms; or aim tuning.

Responsibilities

Drive the technical direction of the team’s weapons, mobility, and camera systems from prototype through shipping, including supporting data-driven systems.
Architect character movement, traversal, weapons, and camera systems with Design and Animation to make gameplay responsive, readable, and fair.
Develop movement, aiming, and shooting systems that feel responsive and precise to players.
Lead hands-on development in C++ and Blueprint, owning the performance and stability of the team’s systems.
Partner with Production to plan and task the team, anticipate risks, and own deliverables.
Partner with Technical Art and Design on tooling and content validation, and lead refactors to production quality.
Set and uphold engineering standards for code review, build stability, testing, and documentation.
Manage approximately five direct reports, mentoring them on architecture and design, unblocking and guiding work, conducting 1:1s, supporting performance and career growth, and hiring.
Champion agentic workflows, automation, and test-driven development while keeping human review central.