Principal Game Engine Team Lead, Platform

Key Attributes:

• Innovation Mindset: Passion for pushing the boundaries of real-time physics in interactive simulation.
• Leadership & Mentorship: Ability to guide developers, set technical direction for an area, and enforce best practices.
• Problem-Solving: Creative and analytical approach to complex simulation challenges.
• Communication: Clear articulation of technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities:

• Run a team that owns the physics architecture: Define data models, simulation loops, solver strategies, and integration points across engine and simulation systems.
• Deliver core physics features: Collision detection (broad-phase/narrow-phase), entity controllers, vehicle dynamics with an emphasis on orbital mechanics, particles/fluid mechanics (with an emphasis on atmospheric dynamics).
• Integrate with simulation logic (gameplay) & animation: Build physics-driven interactions, authoring tools, and runtime hooks (e.g., inverse kinematics, state machines, event systems).
• Performance ownership: Profile, optimize, and budget frame time and memory across platforms; lead multi-threading/Job System/SIMD efforts; evaluate GPU compute opportunities.
• Stability & robustness: Establish test suites, golden scenarios, and verification and validation practices; reduce edge-case instability (stacking, tunneling, jitter, constraint drift).
• Tooling & workflow: Build/debug tools, visualizers, probes, and authoring pipelines that accelerate designer iteration and QA efficiency.
• Cross-functional leadership: Partner with back-end, AI, data pipeline, and platform teams; communicate constraints/trade-offs; align milestones with production.
• Mentorship & standards: Guide engineers via code reviews, design docs, and coding standards; cultivate a high bar for craft, documentation, and reproducibility.
• Quality & live support: Own crash triage and regression control for physics; support content changes post-launch without destabilizing the simulation.
• Design, implement, and optimize real-time rendering pipelines (e.g., forward, deferred, ray tracing).
• Develop and maintain shaders using HLSL, GLSL, ShaderLab, or Shader Graph.
• Responsible for graphics API Integration work with low-level APIs like DirectX 11/12, Vulkan, Metal, or OpenGL ES.
• Guide junior and mid-level engineers, conduct code reviews, and enforce best practices across studio teams.
• Take responsibility for major subsystems (e.g., lighting, post-processing, material systems).
• Work closely with artists, designers, and other engineers to align visual goals with technical feasibility.
• Help technical artists create efficient content workflows and troubleshoot visual issues.
• Translate deep technical topics into actionable insights for studio and platform teams and leadership.

Professional Qualifications:

• Education: BS/MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Physics, Mathematics (or equivalent practical experience).
• Experience:10+ years in real-time/game physics engineering; 2+ shipped titles with substantial physics ownership (AA/AAA preferred).
• Programming: Expert C++ (modern standards), data-oriented design, memory management, profiling/debugging (VTune, PIX, Nsight, RenderDoc, etc.).
• Rigid-body dynamics,collision detection (GJK, SAT, continuous collision detection/time of impact), integration schemes (semi-implicit Euler, RK, constraint solvers).
• Numerical stability, error control, and performance trade-offs under real-time constraints.
• Engine Integration: Experience integrating physics with animation (animation blending, IK), gameplay systems, and rendering pipelines.
• Performance: Multi-threading/job systems, SIMD/vectorization, cache-friendly data structures, frame/memory budgeting across platforms.
• Collaboration: Proven ability to lead cross-disciplinary efforts and communicate complex technical topics clearly.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 15+ years’ experience in Modern Game Engines & Middleware: Unreal Engine (Chaos), Unity (DOTS/Physics), Havok, Bullet, PhysX; custom engine experience strongly preferred.
• 10+ years’ experience in Advanced Simulation: Fracture systems, granular materials, vehicle tire models, buoyancy/aero effects; GPU compute (CUDA, compute shaders).
• Experience with existing physics models and systems integration.
• Networking: Deterministic simulation strategies, rollback/prediction, server authority models, cross-platform latency mitigation.
• Console/Platform: Shipping experience on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC; familiarity with platform TRCs/TCRs and performance certification.
• Tooling & Scripting: Python/C#/Lua for tools and editor extensions; in-engine visualization/debugging overlays.
• Optimization Expertise: Broad-phase structures (sweep-and-prune, BVH), island building, sleeping strategies, CCD tunneling avoidance; job scheduling and affinity tuning.
• Content Pipelines: Collaboration with design/tech art to create authoring guidelines for physics assets; LOD strategies for physics complexity.