2K

Principal Software Engineer, Narrative Systems

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1 day ago
Burnaby, CanadaStaff+

Responsibilities

  • Own and lead the development, architecture, and long-term technical direction of the game's narrative systems.
  • Develop and maintain cinematic sequencing, scripted events, branching content, dialog integration, camera behavior, animation playback, and event-driven scene logic in Unreal Engine 5.
  • Extend and customize Unreal Engine systems including Sequencer, camera frameworks, and animation-related workflows.
  • Integrate dialog, facial animation, lip-sync, localization, and performance-driven content into reliable runtime systems.
  • Create and improve creator-facing tools, content pipelines, and narrative authoring workflows.
  • Collaborate with Animation, Audio, Level Design, Gameplay, Design, and Production teams to translate creative goals into technical solutions.
  • Define technical standards and best practices for narrative content, cinematic playback, scripted events, and tools.
  • Research Unreal Engine features, industry techniques, and emerging technologies for narrative and cinematic production.
  • Profile, optimize, and debug narrative, cinematic, camera, dialog, and animation systems.
  • Mentor engineers in system design, Unreal Engine development, C++ practices, debugging, and production engineering.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
  • 15+ years of professional software engineering experience in games, interactive media, simulation, or related real-time technology.
  • Advanced modern C++ experience, including clean, maintainable, performance-conscious engine-level code.
  • Deep Unreal Engine 4 or Unreal Engine 5 experience with familiarity with engine architecture and source-level workflows.
  • Experience owning complex runtime systems, content creation tools, or production pipelines from architecture through delivery.
  • Strong understanding of cinematic, narrative, animation, camera, dialog, or scripted event systems in a real-time engine.
  • Strong debugging, profiling, and optimization skills.
  • Ability to translate ambiguous artistic, narrative, or design goals into practical technical solutions and explain technical concepts to varied audiences.
  • Experience shipping high-quality games on Unreal Engine 4 or Unreal Engine 5 is beneficial.
  • Experience with branching dialog, localization, narrative scripting, quest systems, event-driven scene logic, editor tools, content pipelines, facial animation, lip-sync, performance capture, or character performance technologies is beneficial.
  • A strong portfolio or shipped-title history demonstrating cinematic, narrative, or interactive presentation systems is beneficial.

Benefits

  • The position is based in British Columbia and is tagged as hybrid, onsite, and remote.
  • The starting base pay range is CAD $144,200 to CAD $213,375 per year.
  • The employer provides accommodations for individuals with disabilities during the application and interview process.

Tech Stack

Categories

Gaming
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