Lead Engine System Engineer

About the Hiring Team
Welcome to Lightspeed LA, the first U.S.-based, AAA game development studio for Tencent Games. Lightspeed LA is focused on building open-world games that emphasize an ambitious living world, sophisticated player-driven gameplay, and mature, thoughtful storytelling. We are developing the first in a series of genre-defining titles.

Why join Lightspeed LA?

For us, it's not only about the exciting, new AAA open world game we're developing but also about team values and studio culture. We foster an open and transparent environment where everyone feels comfortable providing constructive feedback about all aspects of our games.

We encourage the showing of work that's still in progress.
We don't attack or question unfinished work, we celebrate its promise.
We have a No Blame Culture where we blame the problem, not the person.

This is a safe place to fail, and we don't view failure as a negative, but as the natural result of pushing boundaries and trying new things. We create together. We face Challenges Together. We succeed together.

What the Role Entails
LightSpeed LA is seeking a talented and enthusiastic Lead Engine System Engineer to join our studio in sunny Irvine California. The ideal candidate will have a strong passion for games and enabling content creators to deliver the most polished experience for our players and push the boundaries of what we can do today. Join our team of industry veterans and help us build a team and culture of respect that pushes boundaries while having lots of fun.

• Work with and lead a core technology engineering team to develop key engine systems and focus on performance and optimization
• Work with design and production and engineering leadership to manage schedules and backlog
• Implement, debug and optimize engine systems in C/C++ and other languages
• Help establish budgets for engine systems and pipeline tools to validate them
• Refactor existing systems and tools to handle large worlds with dynamic content
• Utilize profiling tools to identify CPU and GPU performance issues
• Evolve iteratively existing systems into state of the art solutions
• Author lean, high-performance, maintainable code
• Cultivate strong cross-disciplinary working relationships based on honesty and transparency among various departments within the studio
• Leadership and Management:
• Provide technical leadership across multiple engine systems and features
• Mentor, develop, and learn from engineering colleagues
• Be a leadership resource for engineers across the entire engine team
• Help build and maintain an open and energetic team culture
• Conduct regular one-on-one meetings with team members to provide guidance, feedback, and support their professional development
• Participate in the recruitment and onboarding of new team members, ensuring a highly skilled team that aligns with project requirements
• Facilitate team-building activities to promote a positive and collaborative working environment

Who We Look For

• A passion and enthusiasm for playing and developing exceptional games.
• Experience bringing multiple large-scale game titles to completion on PC and consoles
• 7+ years of professional game programming experience
• At least 1 shipped/published AAA title
• Experience using profiling tools to identify CPU performance issues
• Excellent understanding of PC and console hardware bottlenecks and optimization strategies
• Experience with game console hardware
• Deep understanding of multithreaded programming
• Experience managing direct reports
• Experience performing in a senior or principal software engineering role or equivalent
• Ability to collaborate with other engineers, designers, artists and other game developers
• Ability to work well in a fluid, changing environment as creative challenges evolve
• Deep knowledge of engine systems involving physics, streaming, audio and other engine systems
• Expert in C++, debugging, and 3D mathematics
• Enjoy working closely with creative and technical team members
• Value lean, simple, efficient, well-tested code
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Preferred:

• Experience working either AAA proprietary engines or third party engines like Unreal and Unity
• Understanding of game asset pipelines

Why Join Us?

Location State(s)

US-California-Irvine

The expected base pay range for this position in the location(s) listed above is $116,200.00 to $343,600.00 per year. Actual pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.Employees hired for this position may be eligible for a sign on payment, relocation package, and restricted stock units, which will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.Subject to the terms and conditions of the plans in effect, hired applicants are also eligible for medical, dental, vision, life and disability benefits, and participation in the Company's 401(k) plan. The Employee is also eligible for up to 15 to 25 days of vacation per year (depending on the employee's tenure), up to 13 days of holidays throughout the calendar year, and up to 10 days of paid sick leave per year.Your benefits may be adjusted to reflect your location, employment status, duration of employment with the company, and position level. Benefits may also be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.

Equal Employment Opportunity at Tencent

As an equal opportunity employer, we firmly believe that diverse voices fuel our innovation and allow us to better serve our users and the community. We foster an environment where every employee of Tencent feels supported and inspired to achieve individual and common goals.