Lead Game Engineer

Side is a global video game development and services provider, offering technical and creative solutions to many of the largest developers and studios around the world. Founded in 2009 and drawing on 30+ years' experience from our parent company in Japan, Side has since grown to become a global force with 15+ studios in over a dozen countries across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. Our industry-leading services include game development, art production, audio production, quality assurance, localization, localization QA, player support, community management, and datasets.

Side (formerly PTW) is a global video game development and services provider, offering technical and creative solutions to many of the largest developers and studios around the world. Founded in 2009 and drawing on 30+ years' experience from our parent company in Japan, Side has since grown to become a global force with 20 studios in 14 countries across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. 

Our industry-leading services include game development, art production, audio production, quality assurance, localization, localization QA, player support, community management, and datasets. 

Experience our side of life. For more information, visit www.side.inc

At Side, we believe great games are born from collaboration, clarity, and creativity. We are looking for a passionate Lead game engineer who thrives on solving complex technical challenges and building impactful gaming experiences. In this role, you'll develop core systems, optimize performance, support live operations, and collaborate with diverse teams to bring creative visions to life. You'll also help drive technical strategy, mentor talent, and shape development best practices across global partnerships. You will initially focus on an internal project but will evolve into a co-development (codev) services role, supporting external partners and projects once the internal phase concludes.

• Design, build, and optimize gameplay systems, AI behaviors, animation pipelines, or core engine architecture
• Develop and maintain tools that empower content creators, designers, and QA teams
• Contribute to Live Ops, build pipelines, or deployment systems for scalable and stable game delivery
• Implement and refine networking, multiplayer architecture, or backend services for seamless player experiences
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure smooth integration of art, design, and systems
• Profile and optimize performance, memory usage, and load times across platforms
• Troubleshoot bugs, resolve bottlenecks, and propose clean, maintainable solutions
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact between internal teams and global partners.
• Mentor and support associate engineers/programmers/developers.
• Contribute to developing processes and best practices that will later support external co-development projects.

• 5 or more years of professional experience in engineering roles in games or related tech fields, with at least 2 years in a lead or senior producer capacity.
• Shipped at least one title on PC, console, mobile, or VR/AR
• Experience in two or more areas such as gameplay, AI, tools, systems, engine, animation tech, backend services, cloud, or DevOps
• Proven experience working with multi-disciplinary teams in game development.

• Proficiency in C++, C#, Python, or equivalent languages
• Hands-on experience with Unreal Engine, or proprietary engines
• Familiarity with source control, debugging tools, performance profiling, and agile workflows

• Comfortable working in cross-functional teams with artists, designers, and producers
• Clear written and verbal communication for documenting and sharing technical solutions

• Proactive, curious, and solution-oriented
• Passionate about games, scalable systems, and collaborative development

• Experience with AAA pipelines, real-time rendering, or platform certification
• Exposure to cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and CI/CD pipelines
• Familiarity with Live Ops strategies, telemetry, and remote content deployment
• Prior co-dev experience or working with distributed teams