Senior Software Engineer

Unity Technologies•New York City, NY

About The Position

The opportunity At SpeedTree (a division of Unity Technologies), we help studios bring natural worlds to life. We build industry-leading tools and runtimes for modeling, animating, and rendering vegetation across games, film, and real-time experiences. Our technology powers artist-friendly creation, real-time performance, and seamless pipeline integration—from DCCs to game engines—so teams can ship beautiful, scalable worlds faster. At our core, we’re passionate about visuals, performance, and giving creators the tools they need to make nature believable. We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who shares our passion for games and visual effects. As a key member of the team, your role will include designing and implementing advanced vegetation modeling tools that empower artists and technical users, building and optimizing real-time graphics features for believable, performant foliage across platforms, and providing end-to-end support for games and VFX pipelines. What you'll be doing Extend the modeling system: add new 3D modeling features, tools, and parametric controls for vegetation. Build GUI features: create clean, fast interfaces and widgets for modeling, materials, LODs, wind, and export. Improve in-app rendering: enhance real-time shading, lighting, wind, and LOD for accurate WYSIWYG previews; profile and optimize. Evolve the export pipeline: support more targets and formats; handle materials, LODs, instancing, collisions, impostors, and metadata; automate and validate. Integrate with pipelines: develop plugins/bridges for DCCs and engines; ensure consistent materials, units, and animation/wind data. Ensure quality: write modern C++/GPU code, add tests, document features, and review code. Collaborate cross-functionally: partner with artists, TDs, and integrators to gather requirements and resolve issues. Provide product support: manage releases, triage user reports, create guides, support sales demos, and assist marketing. Research and prototype: explore new modeling, simulation, and rendering techniques; take prototypes to production. Optimize performance and scalability: improve memory, threading, and large-scene workflows.

Requirements

Strong C++ (modern C++17/20, STL, templates, debugging, profiling)
Graphics API experience (OpenGL required; Vulkan/DirectX a plus)
GPU programming basics (GLSL/HLSL, shaders, render pipelines, performance)
3D math and geometry (linear algebra, transforms, curves/surfaces, normals/UVs)
Practical 3D modeling exposure (DCC tools, topology, materials, LODs; not an artist, but understands workflows)
Real-time rendering fundamentals (lighting, PBR, shadows, transparency, normal/tangent spaces)
Tool/UI development experience (Qt/ImGui or similar; custom widgets, viewport tooling)
Cross-platform development (Windows/macOS/Linux) and build systems (CMake)
Source control and CI (Git, code review, automated builds/tests)
Pipeline/format familiarity (FBX/OBJ/GLTF, textures, metadata; game/VFX engine integration a plus)
Problem solving and collaboration (work with artists/TDs, clear communication)

Nice To Haves

Procedural modeling or simulation
Engine/DCC integration (Unreal/Unity/Maya/Houdini) and plugin development
Performance optimization (CPU/GPU profiling, multithreading, memory)

Responsibilities

Extend the modeling system: add new 3D modeling features, tools, and parametric controls for vegetation.
Build GUI features: create clean, fast interfaces and widgets for modeling, materials, LODs, wind, and export.
Improve in-app rendering: enhance real-time shading, lighting, wind, and LOD for accurate WYSIWYG previews; profile and optimize.
Evolve the export pipeline: support more targets and formats; handle materials, LODs, instancing, collisions, impostors, and metadata; automate and validate.
Integrate with pipelines: develop plugins/bridges for DCCs and engines; ensure consistent materials, units, and animation/wind data.
Ensure quality: write modern C++/GPU code, add tests, document features, and review code.
Collaborate cross-functionally: partner with artists, TDs, and integrators to gather requirements and resolve issues.
Provide product support: manage releases, triage user reports, create guides, support sales demos, and assist marketing.
Research and prototype: explore new modeling, simulation, and rendering techniques; take prototypes to production.
Optimize performance and scalability: improve memory, threading, and large-scene workflows.