Lead Gameplay Systems Engineer

Rushdown Studios

5d•$145,000 - $165,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Rushdown Studios is looking for a Lead Gameplay Systems Engineer to join us in support of our partner studio! In this role, you’ll develop and maintain a variety of gameplay features and systems pertaining to player experience, character progression, and creator workflows. Our ideal candidate is a self-motivated and demonstrated leader with the ability to juggle and jump between different tasks as necessary, including mentoring other team members working across a range of projects. Prior game development experience is required for this role, but we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of the requirements listed below!

Requirements

Six (6) years of professional experience working on multiplayer games in C++, including recent experience developing games in Unreal Engine (e.g., UE4, UE5).
Professional experience leading a team, either through direct leadership or mentorship of less-experienced team members.
Background designing gameplay systems for live-service games.
Familiarity with non-engineering workflows and the ability to partner with various disciplines (e.g., art, animation, game design, and narrative design).
Understanding of various Unreal Engine technologies, such as the Gameplay Ability System (GAS), UI tooling (e.g., UMG and Slate), asset systems (e.g., Asset Registry and Asset Async Loading), and rendering features (e.g., Nanite, Lumen).
Willingness to selflessly put player experiences first — before even your own code and ego.
Proactive approach to communication, particularly when it comes to unblocking yourself and navigating obstacles as part of a team.

Nice To Haves

Experience with additional game engines, including Unity or bespoke game engines.
Experience developing SDKs or plugins to be used by other developers you may not be working with directly.
Background developing games for consoles and integrating with console SDKs.

Responsibilities

Integrate backend services with the game client using C++.
Develop a wide variety of features for games utilizing Unreal Engine.
Ensure backend APIs are used efficiently and data is cached properly in the client.
Build tools that enable designers to easily work with and configure online systems.
Estimate and prioritize a backlog of existing features, bugs, and tech debt.
Solve crashes and other problems on both PC and console.
Partner with designers to iterate on features and optimize for a smoother player experience.
Collaborate with external programmers to integrate new features for multiplayer games and ensure their features run as quickly and efficiently as possible.