Principal C++ Engineer

About the roleWe'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.

Your responsibilities

• 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

About youYou 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.

What we offer

• 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

Next Steps & How to Apply

Please apply via our recruitment agency 8bit via https://8bitplay.com/jobs/principal-c-engineer/

• A one-hour technical conversation with the Engineering Team Lead about work you have done
• A one-hour meeting with our HR and either our Founder/CEO or our Studio Producer, depending on availability, to assess shared values, how we will work together, and culture add
• A second technical round in a format we pick together, based on what we need to assess for the specific role, taking no more than 2-3 hours of your time in total
• A casual, unscored conversation with a group of people you'll be working with closely to learn more about us and for the team to learn more about you
• An offer callWe give you a decision within a few working days of each stage, and we aim for the whole process from the first interview to an offer to take four weeks or less.

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

We are happy to discuss any requested accommodation to the above process.

About usWe are a small indie studio that makes factory and automation games. We started with web games and found our success on PC. Our current 17 staff come from 5 continents, with a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds. We value direct communication and ownership over bureaucracy. We design for our players, in close collaboration with our community.We work completely remote and in English; professional working proficiency is enough. We have critical meetings and collaborate with other staff during CET core working hours (approx. 11:00-15:00).We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, genders, ages, abilities and identities, and we evaluate everyone on the same criteria.