Gameplay Programming Lead

Epic Games, Inc.
Seattle, WA, United States
17 days ago
Apply on www.indeed.com
Prepare application

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Experience level
Expert
Compensation
$190,010.0 - $278,682.0
Working hours
Regular working hours
Job source

Tech stack

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Artificial Intelligence C++ (Programming Language) Computer Programming Game Engine Roblox Unreal Engine Code Restructuring

Job description

Part of the Unreal Engine Gameplay department, you will lead a team of experienced programmers aimed at transforming Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) and Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) gameplay technology toward Unreal Engine 6 (UE6) based on Scene Graph and Verse.

As a Lead Gameplay Programmer, you will be in a leadership role on a small and focused team, playing a critical role in driving current and future projects. You will be responsible for driving core transformative changes and supporting collaborative development between programmers, UEFN developers, and licensees. You will have opportunities to work on a variety of initiatives, get hands-on with cutting-edge technologies, and work with talented internal and external teams, all while building impactful technology that affects thousands of game developers and millions of gamers.

In this role, you will

  • Lead development for a project or initiative, championing both technical excellence and developer experience
  • Guide, mentor, and help build a highly effective engineering team
  • Work closely with product design to create and iterate on gameplay API and tools, while maintaining strong architectural and algorithmic direction
  • Collaborate with Unreal Engine or Fortnite teams to contribute to ongoing feature development
  • Optimize, refactor, and fix bugs in existing systems, and write robust, maintainable code
  • Contribute ideas toward all aspects of the project’s production and development
  • Leverage AI to enhance your daily work and empower your team.

Requirements

  • Significant experience developing games with Unreal Engine
  • Experience as a leader in an engineering role, with demonstrated ability to lead a team effectively
  • Demonstrates proactive, courageous leadership: speaks up, challenges assumptions respectfully, communicates directly, and creates an environment where honest feedback is welcomed.
  • Deep understanding of the creator ecosystem, including game engines such as Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) or Roblox Studio, and the unique challenges of building tools, workflows, and platforms that empower developers rather than shipping a game directly.
  • A keen analytical mind with creative problem-solving skills and the ability to think outside the box
  • Proficiency in C++ with a deep understanding of gameplay systems, mechanics, and tools
  • Strong teamwork and cross-disciplinary collaboration skills, including the ability to deliver and respond to constructive feedback
  • Knowledge of Scene Graph and Verse is a plus

About the company

At the core of Epic’s success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it’s building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we’re always innovating.

Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We’re constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development., Unreal projects have been leading the pack of real-time entertainment with our constantly growing team of engineering experts. We’re always improving on the tools and technology that empower content developers worldwide.

Apply for this position

This job is hosted externally. Click below to view the full posting and apply.

Apply on www.indeed.com
Prepare application

Good distractions

Talks and stories from around this role — technically off-topic, practically not.

3:12 min

Selecting game engines and defining operational leadership strategies

Eric Bowman Eric Bowman ¡ World Congress 2026 Europe

1:41 min

Equipping agents with runtime context and telemetry data

May Walter May Walter ¡ World Congress 2026 Europe

1:43 min

Unity game engine pricing model backlash

2:21 min

Reflecting on modern game frameworks and audio libraries

John Romero John Romero ¡ World Congress 2022

2:30 min

Technical trade-offs between game engines and headsets

Zaid Zaim Zaid Zaim ¡ World Congress 2023

1:37 min

How game development requirements drive broader technological advancements

Johanna Pirker Johanna Pirker ¡ World Congress 2022

Videos

See all

Related articles

See all