Senior Gameplay Engineer

We are looking for our next teammate who will raise our bar and make us better. What we need: 31st Union is looking for a Senior Gameplay Engineer to develop our Player Bots - AI agents that stand in for human players in our AAA free-to-play, cross-platform action game. Using C++, Unreal Engine 5, and our in-house utility AI framework, you will make bots that fight, traverse, loot, and team up convincingly enough that players second-guess whether they're facing a human.

The same bots power mode backfill and automated testing at scale.

Responsibilities: - Develop combat behavior: target prioritization, hero-appropriate weapon and ability use, movement, and disengagement - Develop humanization: tunable aim, reaction time, and error models across difficulty levels - Develop macro behavior: team cohesion, traversal, pacing, events, looting, and progression - Extend our utility AI framework: new behaviors, scoring, and tuning - Keep bot populations performant: throttling, suspension, and LOD - Extend bots as automated test clients, from feature tests to match-scale load tests - Build bot evaluation tooling: debug visualization and playtest metrics - Partner with design to tune behavior through playtests Who you are: - 5+ years of gameplay or game AI engineering on shipped action games - Strong C++ and Unreal Engine fluency, including AI controllers, navigation, and EQS - Utility AI or comparable decision-making architectures - AI in networked multiplayer: client/server authority, prediction, dedicated servers - Humanlike combat AI: aim and error models, reaction time, believable movement - Optimizing many concurrent agents: LOD and tick throttling Nice-to-Haves: - Player bots in a competitive shooter - Unreal Engine 5, StateTree, and the Gameplay Ability System - Control systems (e.g., PID controllers) and input simulation - Automated test clients and load testing The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $108,900 and $161,160 per year.

However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards and eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Regular, full-time employees are also eligible for a range of benefits at the Company, including: medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage; 14 paid holidays per calendar year; paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Company's discretionary time off program; up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year; paid parental and compassionate leave; wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support; family planning support through Maven; commuter benefits; and reimbursements for fitness-related expenses.

Ontario only: The use of Artificial Intelligence is not being used to screen candidates. The position is for an existing vacancy. #LI-Remote #LI-Onsite #LI-Hybrid