Advanced Gameplay Engineer

About the Role

Disney Digital Entertainment is on a mission to create the ‘digital front door’ for The Walt Disney Company, bringing all of the magic of Disney together into a new interactive universe.

We are building an expert development team that will be building game experiences that will herald the next generation of Disney to the world. Working with top-class industry talent, this role is perfect for the accomplished game engineer looking to create something epic - collaborating with an incredible group of game developers focusing on individual experiences to build a wonderfully rich and cohesive product that is truly “Disney”.

We are looking for a uniquely talented Advanced Gameplay Engineer to join us on this journey!  If you are an experienced game programmer with a love of Disney/Pixar, Star Wars, 20th Century, and Marvel properties, you’ll want to check out this opportunity!

This role will report to the Director, Gameplay Engineering.

What You Will Do

• Leverage your experience and knowledge to help implement several interactive games and experiences based on Disney’s robust portfolio of characters and worlds including Disney/Pixar, 20th Century, Marvel and Star Wars.
• Be an active, hands-on participant in the process, directly writing code and working daily with design/production/art to establish and achieve goals for each game experience.
• A significant portion of this work will involve implementation of experiences using SceneGraph and Verse (UEFN/Unreal Editor Fortnite) as a base.  This role will require a willingness and ability to operate within the limitations of that ecosystem and grow with it as the functionality matures.
• There may be additional work within the native Unreal Engine environment (C++/Blueprints), however the primary responsibility will still come back to SceneGraph and Verse.  This is not a 100% C++ position.
• Help the team understand and debug a large legacy Unreal Engine project.  This job may involve helping to extend that codebase to meet our needs.
• Empower designers by serving as their main support avenue during game development.  Find creative ways to overcome limitations, maintaining a positive outlook along the way.
• Work closely with other members of the engineering team to ensure that implementation quality is maintained.  Be an advocate of stability and flexibility.
• Champion Disney and team values.  Maintain a ‘guest-first’ mentality by being an advocate for the player experience.
• As an advanced-level engineer, you will help drive critical leading edge projects for the company.
• Serve as a key member of a growing game development team at Disney.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• 8 years of experience developing console/PC/mobile games or other digital interactive entertainment.
• Experience with Unreal Engine 4/5+ at the native (C++) level.  Capable of understanding and working in an existing legacy C++/Blueprint-heavy project.
• Some experience with UEFN/Verse, at least at the hobby-ist level.
• Participated in the creation and release of a major product, in a hands-on programming role.  Was one of the main authors of a significant gameplay system.
• Served as a programmer during the prototype phase of a project.  Understands the difference in requirements/goals between prototyping and production.
• Understands and implements the following concepts at a production-quality, AAA level:
  • C++ code (Performance Impact, Memory Management, Inheritance, etc.)
  • Client/Server architecture (Replication, Client-side Prediction, Movement Syncing, etc.)
  • Game Mathematics (Linear Algebra, Vector Math, Kinematic Physics, Collision, etc.)
• Able to mentor and to guide junior engineers.

Education:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with publishing and supporting live UEFN content.
• Graphics Programming, Mobile experience, and familiarity with Online Services are all bonuses.
• Has a broad, current understanding of Fortnite and the various devices that are available for User Generated Content (UGC).
• Experience developing and supporting products in the AAA space.

Additional Information

• There will be a technical assessment as part of the interview process.

Benefits

Disney offers a rewards package to help you live your best life. This includes health and savings benefits, educational opportunities, and special extras that only Disney can provide. Learn more about our benefits and perks at https://jobs.disneycareers.com/benefits

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The hiring range for this remote position is $155,700.00-$208,700.00 per year, which factors in various geographic regions. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.