Senior Systems Engineer
Senior Systems Engineer at Mob Entertainment working on an upcoming Unreal Engine project (the studio behind Poppy Playtime). Day to day they architect, build, and maintain core gameplay and multiplayer/networked systems, develop custom UE plugins in C++ and Blueprints, and mentor other engineers while owning technical direction end-to-end.
- Compensation
- $101K–$177K / yr
- Location
- United States
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 6+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 8+ years of professional game development experience, or 2+ shipped AAA titles, focused on systems or gameplay programming
- Strong knowledge of systems and framework design (data-driven architecture, modular/extensible system design, gameplay frameworks)
- Strong gameplay programming knowledge with a track record of shipping gameplay systems in Unreal Engine
- Experience designing and building Unreal Engine plugins
- Hands-on multiplayer/networked gameplay experience (replication, RPCs, network optimization, debugging networked issues)
- Excellent proficiency in both C++ and Blueprints within Unreal Engine
- Genuine passion for mentoring other engineers
Nice to have
- Unreal Engine core/engine-level knowledge (engine source, low-level systems)
- Prior leadership experience (leading a team, owning a discipline, or technical lead)
- Experience shipping systems that scaled or evolved significantly beyond MVP
- Familiarity with performance profiling and optimization within Unreal Engine
- Familiarity with source control tools (e.g., Perforce) in a game production pipeline
- Passion for horror games, narrative-driven experiences, or the Poppy Playtime franchise
Full description
Mob Entertainment is a startup multimedia studio that is best known for our hit indie horror game "Poppy Playtime". This franchise is one of the hottest new properties in gaming, and our team is naturally expanding as our ambition expands. To give a taste of our brand's popularity, more than 200 billion YouTube views of Poppy Playtime related content have occurred since the game's launch 6 years ago.
Mob Entertainment is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to join the team supporting development of one of our upcoming Unreal Engine projects. This role is designed for a highly experienced engineer who can own core gameplay and engine-adjacent systems end-to-end, set technical direction, and raise the bar for the rest of the engineering team.
You'll be responsible for architecting, building, and maintaining systems and frameworks that other programmers and designers build on top of. This is a high-trust, high-autonomy role for someone who can solve ambiguous, complex problems with minimal oversight, while also actively mentoring and leveling up less experienced engineers.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain core gameplay systems and frameworks used across the project, ensuring they're robust, scalable, and easy for other engineers to extend.
- Develop and maintain custom Unreal Engine plugins to support project-specific tooling and gameplay needs.
- Architect and implement multiplayer/networked gameplay systems, including replication strategy, network optimization, and debugging desync or performance issues.
- Own technical decisions for systems under your purview, balancing production needs, performance, and long-term maintainability.
- Partner with designers and gameplay programmers to translate gameplay and design intent into well-structured, tunable systems.
- Identify architectural risks and technical debt early, and drive solutions before they become blockers.
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through code review, pairing, and ongoing technical guidance; help grow the team's overall skill level.
- Debug and resolve complex, systemic issues reported during production, QA, and post-launch, using Jira to track and prioritize work.
- Document system architecture, workflows, and design patterns in Confluence to support team-wide understanding and onboarding.
- Participate in and help lead code reviews, design discussions, and sprint planning as part of a cross-functional development team.
- Stay current on systems programming and Unreal Engine best practices, and proactively bring forward opportunities to improve existing systems.