Systems Engineer (Principal/Lead)

Bonfire Studios•Irvine, CA

5d•$237,500 - $290,000

About The Position

What's the one game you couldn't put down? The game that connected you with friends, and made you feel like you belonged? If a game has ever defined a chapter of your life, then you already know the spark we’re chasing. Our mission is to ignite that same feeling for players; the thrill of competition, the joy of community, and the belonging of finding your own corner of a larger world. Great games begin with people who dare to dream big. If that sounds exciting, you might be exactly who we’re looking for. Bonfire is a group of experienced and ambitious developers, proud to be creating our first original IP: Arkheron . It is a fast-paced, competitive PVP game set in a surreal dark fantasy world where 15 teams of three battle their way up the Tower. In a world built from memories, you will loot powerful items to create and adapt a unique build-out that will change your strategy and combat experience with every Ascension. The best way to understand our Engineering team is in their own words — here’s how they describe their work. On the Engineering team at Bonfire, it is about more than code. For us, it's essential to build a deep understanding and intuitive sense of what makes our game special through our players' hearts and minds. Guided by this sensibility, we form close partnerships with artists and designers to challenge ourselves, exploring creative and fun ways to evolve the game together. We ruthlessly prioritize what matters most and continually weigh trade-offs in our pursuit of making both playing and building our game feel great. As a Principal/Lead Systems Engineer , you will play a central role in shaping the foundational technology powering Arkheron, our first game and a cross-platform competitive multiplayer title. This role demands deep experience building systems for competitive multiplayer games, where engine performance, hardware constraints, and platform characteristics have a direct impact on responsiveness and player experience. We are at a transformative stage in our engine technology, and we are looking for someone to help shape its development toward data-centric principles; to make Arkheron feel great to play for players, and great to build for our developers through fast and reliable iteration.

Requirements

Have shipped multiple titles with deep, hands-on experience leading technical direction on proprietary, custom, or heavily modified engines for AAA games on PC and modern consoles.
Bring proven experience building and optimizing systems for competitive multiplayer games, with a sharp understanding of how low-level decisions impact responsiveness and player experience.
Have deep expertise in high-performance real-time systems, multi-threaded architecture, and ECS paradigms.
(Lead) Have led and grown senior engineering teams, and can provide the mentorship and clarity that high-performing engineers need to do their best work.
Enjoy solving the hardest problems — whether debugging elusive issues, optimizing complex systems, or making foundational architectural calls with long-term consequences.
Thrive on curiosity and adaptability, eager to dive into new areas and unfamiliar code.
Value collaboration, trust, and diverse perspectives, building strong partnerships across the studio.
Carry a genuine passion for both technology and the creative process of making games.

Responsibilities

Shaping the architecture, optimization, and long-term evolution of core engine systems in Unity/DOTS (C# and C/C++) — spanning runtime performance, memory management, platform-specific optimization (PC and consoles), networking infrastructure, graphics, and tooling.
Driving complex technical decisions across console performance and low-level systems architecture, with reach into graphics, tooling, and engine infrastructure to ensure our systems scale for both developers and players.
Collaborating with internal and external leads to advance engine platform capabilities — including console features, anti-cheat, and team workflows.
Tackling high-impact projects such as optimizing iteration pipelines, building live-editable profiling systems, and enhancing runtime systems like rendering, streaming, and netcode.
Creating tools and APIs that make developers' lives easier and help the team deliver high-quality content faster.
Jumping into other areas as needed — from audio to UI to gameplay systems — to support the broader team.
Contributing beyond core engineering, leaning on your passions and perspectives to help the studio grow.
(Lead) Providing technical leadership and mentorship across a senior engineering team — fostering autonomy, accountability, and growth through clear direction, constructive feedback, and deliberate skill development.