[Hiring] Senior Expert Gameplay Engineer @Activision Blizzard, Inc.

Role Description

The Senior Expert Gameplay Engineer will work closely with Gameplay Design, Systems Design, Technical Art, Animation, and other disciplines to translate creative concepts into responsive, scalable, and maintainable gameplay systems. This role will take ownership of complex gameplay features from technical design and prototyping through implementation, iteration, optimization, and polish.

This role is expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, provide technical guidance to other engineers, and help establish engineering practices and patterns that improve the quality and efficiency of the broader team. At the Senior Expert level, this role will also influence technical direction and resolve ambiguous, cross-system problems across major gameplay initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain complex gameplay systems and features using modern game development practices.
• Own significant gameplay initiatives from technical discovery and prototyping through implementation, iteration, optimization, and final polish.
• Translate gameplay and design goals into robust technical solutions while identifying technical constraints, dependencies, trade-offs, and opportunities early.
• Develop systems that are performant, scalable, maintainable, and flexible enough to support evolving design requirements.
• Collaborate closely with Gameplay Designers and Systems Designers to develop mechanics that are responsive, intuitive, and satisfying for players.
• Work across disciplines to integrate gameplay systems with animation, AI, UI, audio, physics, networking, and other game technologies.
• Investigate and solve complex technical problems that span multiple systems or disciplines, providing technical direction when solutions are ambiguous.
• Profile, debug, and optimize gameplay systems to maintain performance, scalability, and stability across target platforms.
• Lead technical design reviews and influence architectural decisions affecting gameplay technology, reusable patterns, tools, and frameworks.
• Build prototypes and technical experiments to validate new gameplay concepts and reduce technical uncertainty.
• Provide thoughtful code reviews, document technical approaches and dependencies, and serve as a technical resource for complex gameplay questions.
• Mentor and support other engineers through technical guidance, code reviews, design discussions, and hands-on problem solving.
• Break down, scope, and sequence complex gameplay initiatives in partnership with production and engineering leadership.

Qualifications

• Typically 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience developing games, or equivalent demonstrated scope and expertise.
• Experience building and shipping gameplay systems for at least one PC and/or console title.
• Deep proficiency in modern C++ and strong software engineering fundamentals, including game architecture, real-time systems, performance, debugging, and optimization.
• Demonstrated ability to independently own complex gameplay systems from concept through implementation, optimization, and polish.
• Ability to diagnose and solve ambiguous or technically complex problems with limited direction while balancing player experience, performance, maintainability, and delivery priorities.

Knowledge & Skills

• Experience translating gameplay concepts and design requirements into effective technical solutions.
• Strong understanding of gameplay fundamentals and what makes systems feel responsive, intuitive, and enjoyable.
• Experience working closely with game designers and other engineering and non-engineering disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, influence technical decisions, and raise the technical quality of a team.
• Clear, inclusive communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience shipping a game that includes multiplayer or online gameplay.
• Experience with replication, networking, and multiplayer gameplay architecture.
• Experience with AI, navigation, physics, animation systems, or character technology.
• Experience building gameplay frameworks or reusable technology used by multiple teams or systems.
• Experience with gameplay scripting or other methods of enabling rapid designer iteration.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance.
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching.
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave.
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others.
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.