Lead Gameplay Software Engineer (Unreal Engine 5) at Blackbirdinteractive

Location: Vancouver ⚬ Remote-friendly within Canada(Pacific-time overlap required)Experience: 7+ years professional game-developmentEmployment type: Four-day work week, full-time permanentAbout the role:Blackbird Interactive is seeking a lead engineer to own and drive the moment-to-moment fun in our Unreal Engine 5 projects. As a lead, you’ll set technical direction, shepherd features from prototype through ship, and mentor a team of engineers while deepening studio-wide mastery of UE5.

What you’ll tackle

Gameplay vision & execution – Architect, implement, and iterate on movement, interactions, AI behaviours, and progression systems in C++ and Blueprints, ensuring they align with product goals.

System design at scale – Build modular, data-driven gameplay frameworks that perform across PC and console SKUs, with extensibility for live-ops.

Technical leadership – Guide a team of gameplay engineers: define coding standards, perform code reviews, and provide career-growth mentorship.

Cross-disciplinary collaboration – Partner with design, art, and audio to translate high-level concepts into shippable, performant features; champion pragmatic iteration development loops.

Performance & stability – Establish profiling targets, drive optimisation initiatives, and uphold automated test and performance coverage for the game.

Process & tooling – Identify workflow bottlenecks, propose engine/tool improvements (e.g., GAS, MassEntity, Chaos).

You’ll thrive here if you

Deliver production-quality C++ in Unreal Engine 5 with 7+ years of professional game-development experience and at least one shipped AA/AAA title featuring your leadership.

Hold a BSc in Computer Science or related (or demonstrate equivalent professional experience).Excel at balancing product vision with technical constraints in rapid-iteration environments.

Communicate clearly across disciplines and foster a collaborative culture.

Are fluent with Perforce, Git, modern debugging/profiling tools, and CI/CD pipelines.

Bonus XP

Expertise with the Gameplay Ability System, Replication graph, Nanite, and/or Lumen.

Proven record of improving build pipelines, automated testing, or live-ops telemetry for gameplay code.

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