Game Engine Developer

Ground-breaking machine learning architecture combines original, royalty-compensated creative input (collected in our "actor sessions") with cutting-edge AI character generation. Our approach tackles the gaming industry's struggle to integrate recent AI advancements into commercially viable offerings whilst addressing the AI industry's reluctance to sustainably incorporate the work of creatives, whilst also being 10x more environmentally friendly than contemporaries like character.ai.

We are seeking a talented Game Engine Developer who is confident in developing long-term maintainable systems to accelerate creative workflows, with a focus on consumer facing frameworks, to join our dynamic team.

As a lead for backend systems, this role will have large amounts of creative freedom in a very unique pioneering design space. We have a cutting edge game AI development system to accelerate internal development time with a view for licensing our engine within a year, requiring an inventive problem solving approach to execute. There is an expectation of independence and initiative which will evolve into managerial responsibilities as we aim to grow the development team further., * Write modular, maintainable code in C# that is transferable across various game engines and deliver features on schedule to a high quality.

• Design, implement, and maintain workflows to streamline development in collaboration with game design, writing, art and AI teams.
• Plan and iterate on SDKs with a focus on Developer Experience that minimises cognitive load and friction.
• Work closely with AI experts to implement cutting edge AI integration, evaluation and gameplay systems. AI development experience is not a requirement., * Meaningful work as part of a team pushing the envelope on ethical and sustainable integration of AI into video games
• Supportive, creative and friendly micro team culture
• Salary reviews tied to individual and company performance
• Equity offered via share options pool
• Travel expenses between any community events/engagement covered
• Opportunity to shape dynamic RPG systems with real creative input.
• Mentoring for AI NPC design and implementation from pioneering professionals

• Proven experience in full-stack or specialised development roles with a strong portfolio demonstrating work across mobile apps (Android & iOS), web applications or game development.
• A degree in Computer Science/related discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Experience with Godot (extensive experience in Unity/Unreal is sufficient if proven ability to quickly learn systems).
• Experience developing and shipping a game or development platform in a programming role working in an OOP language (C#/C++ preferred).
• Confident in SOLID architectural principles and in the refactoring of experimental code for long-term maintainability.
• A creative mind strongly motivated by pride in your work with an ability to stay closely integrated with the surrounding team to monitor workflow experience.
• A proven problem solving acumen and critical thinking skills with an ability to adapt to unfamiliar technologies.
• Honesty and transparency regarding your performance, actively engaging in team discussions and collaborating effectively with others on ideas.
• Hands on experience using Git and shell scripting.
• Strong debugging skills coupled with the ability to write comprehensive test cases for quality assurance purposes.
• Located in the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne area or able to relocate (or commute multiple days a week) within 6 months. Metro cards available.

Pluses

• Experience working on AI and/or AI in games.
• Experience developing for mobile or console.
• Passion for the social simulation RPG genre, having played games like The Sims, Persona or Tokimeki Memorial.
• Experience with Python or C++, where interacting with our AI infrastructure becomes necessary.
• Experience with data management systems.
• Experience with memory management systems.

• Why you're interested in this role and how your skills, knowledge and experience could be applied to this role
• Your experience shipping a game including your role/duties and the biggest lesson you learnt

Please note: We use AI only for the NPCs in our games and never for our art, narrative design or game development, ensuring our creative voice - similarly your cover letter is your chance to tell us about you. Please write it in your own voice so we can get to know the real person behind the application.

If you have a portfolio, feel free to include links or attachments - we welcome proof of your work.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £30,000.00-£35,000.00 per year

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday
• 9:30am-5:30pm
• January 2026 Start

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £30,000.00-£35,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Employee stock ownership plan
• Free or subsidised travel

Parable Studios is a research-driven indie game studio using AI for core game mechanics with a focus on ethical, sustainable and creative-driven utilisation. Our first title, "Millennium Whisper" is a first-of-its-kind dating simulator where each of the dateable characters was portrayed by an actor and was released into early access on Steam earlier this year. We're hard at work releasing incremental updates to a small but high engagement early adopter fanbase, building towards a full release next year.