Principal C++ Engineer

We're looking for a Principal C++ Engineer to own the factory simulation of our next game. The game is built in Unreal Engine 5, but the simulation will be self-contained and written in raw C++.

Players will place hundreds of thousands of machines, belts, pipes, and more across a large world, and every one of them has to deterministically update on every player's device in a co-op session.

You'll design that simulation module from the ground up as one of the first engineers on a new game team, working closely with the Engineering Team Lead and the Game Design department.

• Design and build a deterministic factory simulation that scales to hundreds of thousands of player-placed buildings

• Own the sim architecture: data layout, tick model, threading, and serialisation format

• Work with the Networking Engineer so the sim and co-op are designed together, not bolted on later

• Set and meet the CPU performance budget for the sim on our minimum specification target

• Review code and mentor other engineers on C++ and architecture

You will likely have:

• Experience in professional C++ environments where you have architected, implemented, and maintained performant modules which are built on by other engineers, and lived with the consequences of your design choices

• Deep knowledge of data-oriented design, multithreading, and performance, including CPU profiling and applying algorithmic complexity-based analysis to select the right data structures

• Built a deterministic or lockstep system, or can show how you'd approach one

• A track record of mentoring engineers and making architectural decisions in writing that others could follow and challenge

In addition, you may have:

• 2+ shipped game titles

• Worked on a factory, automation or simulation-heavy game

• Worked in Unreal Engine, especially with Mass Entity or a custom ECS in Unreal

If you match most of this and the problem excites you, please apply.

• Fully Remote: We employ directly inside Germany

• Flexible working hours!

• Paid overtime, on the rare occasions it happens

• A hardware budget to ensure you have the ergonomic setup and hardware you need to work comfortably

• A monthly personal growth allowance for courses, books or other learning material

• Focus days to research or learn new skills

• A yearly team gathering to meet and collaborate in person

• A yearly salary review to keep your pay in line with the market, and an automatic increase of 2% per year

For this role:

• The first technical conversation covers systems you've built and how you would build ours

• For the second technical round, we decide together on either:

  • A whiteboarding session where we collaborate to design the broad strokes of the simulation

  • A take-home code review (you should not need more than two hours), with your feedback then presented in real time