Senior Software Engineer, Combat Systems - Unannounced Game

Activision Blizzard • Irvine, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations - only made possible by building a work environment that nurtures the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people. As a Senior Combat Systems Engineer, you will design, architect, and evolve the core systems that power high-quality combat experiences. You will work closely with gameplay engineers, designers, animators, and artists to build scalable, extensible, and performant combat & gameplay frameworks that support complex enemy behavior and expressive player interactions. This role is highly technical and systems-focused, with a strong emphasis on architecture, long-term maintainability, and empowering content teams through robust tools and workflows. You will help define and execute a technical vision that meets both immediate gameplay needs and long-term project goals. This role is a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in gameplay engineering or a combination of applicable training and experience.
• Experience developing using the Unreal engine (both C++ and Blueprint).
• Proven ability to work effectively in cross-disciplinary teams.
• Experience working on AAA-quality combat systems, including interaction with animation, VFX/SFX, and gameplay feel.
• The ability to understand and write production-grade C++ code.
• The capacity to make frequent, readable, well-tested code commits.
• The ability to communicate and articulate vision, ideas, learnings from others, and to give meaningful feedback.
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.
• Experience analyzing game features and content for performance and optimizing a game to release quality.
• Experience working closely in multi-disciplinary teams with people of diverse mindsets.
• Mentorship mindset and excellent attitude to helping others level up their knowledge.

Nice To Haves

• Computer science, mathematics, physics, or related degrees.
• Experience developing and shipping AAA game titles for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles.
• Experience working on 3D action multiplayer games.
• Experience with a large codebase.

Responsibilities

• Architecting and implementing core combat systems and frameworks, including combat state management, abilities, damage, and gameplay logic.
• Owning the technical design and long-term health of combat-related systems, ensuring they are scalable, modular, and maintainable.
• Empowering designers, artists, and other engineers to deliver the vision of the game and ensuring we delight and entertain our players.
• Collaborating with designers and engineers on gameplay teams to learn and understand their needs and offer technical solutions.
• Optimizing team productivity by supporting pipelines, tool development, and workflow improvements.
• Identifying performance risks in combat systems and leading optimization efforts to meet release-quality standards.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed