Gameplay Systems Software Engineer

Who We Are

Founded in 2023, Small Axe Studios is 2K’s newest stand-alone studio, built to push the boundaries of game development and bring 2K’s next groundbreaking sports franchise to life. Headquartered in Burnaby, we are assembling a world-class team of visionaries, builders, and passionate gamers who thrive on creative collaboration, technical excellence, and bold ideas. At Small Axe Studios, we believe big things start with sharp focus—and we’re crafting an exceptional, player-first experience from the ground up. If you’re ready to tackle unique challenges, leave your mark on a brand-new IP, and help shape the future of interactive sports entertainment, we want you on our team!

What We Need

We are seeking a passionate C++ Gameplay Systems Software Engineer to help build the runtime systems that drive crowds, pedestrians, background NPCs, and other non-player actors at scale.  This is an important role responsible for contributing to the foundational systems that bring dense, believable, and performant worlds to life.
The ideal candidate has strong modern C++ fundamentals, hands-on Unreal Engine (UE5) experience, and an interest in building performant real-time simulation systems. Experience with crowd systems, NPC behavior, animation runtime systems, or large-scale actor optimization is highly valuable.  You do not need to have worked on every system listed below. We are looking for engineers with strong C++ fundamentals, production Unreal experience, and the ability to reason about performance-sensitive runtime systems.

What You’ll Do

●      Design and implement C++ runtime systems for large-scale crowd, NPC, and pedestrian simulation.

●      Collaborate with AI, Animation and design to translate behavior goals into maintainable, performant gameplay systems.

●      Build scalable LOD, significance, visibility, and culling systems for thousands of active or semi-active agents.

●      Profile CPU, memory, and animation costs using Unreal Insights and platform tools.

●      Contribute to our character pipeline and runtime

What Will Make You A Great Fit

●      3+ years of professional game development or relevant real-time simulation experience.

●      Strong modern C++ skills, including memory, performance, debugging, and data-oriented design fundamentals.

●      Production experience with Unreal Engine 4 or 5.

●      Experience building gameplay, AI, animation, character, or simulation systems.

●      Comfortable profiling and optimizing runtime systems under CPU, memory, and frame-time constraints.

●      Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across engineering, design, animation, and art.

Beneficial Qualifications

●      Experience with UE5 MassEntity, StateTree, ZoneGraph, Smart Objects, or similar ECS/agent-behavior systems.

●      Experience with large crowds, NPC populations, pedestrian systems, or background-life simulation.

●      Familiarity with procedural generation or machine-learning-assisted approaches for agent behavior, population, or animation selection.

●      Previous experience shipping a AAA title developed on Unreal Engine.

The pay range for this position in British Columbia at the start of employment is expected to be between $71,400 and $105,660 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 employees in regular roles may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, provided that temporary or intern roles will not be eligible for many of these payments or benefits. Details of participation in compensation and benefit plans (if applicable) will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities are provided  suitable accommodations to enjoy equal employment opportunities, including the ability to participate in the job application or interview process,. Please contact us if you need an accommodation as part of your application process or otherwise have questions about the Company’s accommodation policy and review process.

Please be aware that 2K does not conduct job interviews or make job offers over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, or others.  2K also does not engage in any financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process, and will never ask a candidate for their personal or financial information over an app or other unofficial chat channel.  Any attempt to do so may be the result of a scam or phishing attack, and you should not engage.  2K’s in-house recruitment team will only contact individuals through their official Company email addresses (i.e., via a 2k.com email domain).

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