Principal Unity Engineer, Sports Interactive
More information about location
Sports management simulation games
Be an early applicant
Sports management simulation games
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
More information about location
501-1000 employees
Company mission
Sports Interactive's mission is to continue to grow as the world's leading developer of sports management simulation games.
Role
Who you are
- We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Software Engineer to join our development team
- You are an expert in C# and Unity, with an exceptional ability to architect and implement efficient, scalable, reusable, and maintainable systems across multiple areas of the game
- These include, but are not limited to: addressables, package management, data binding, UI and UI systems, and general system and editor tooling that support our games and their features and functionality
- You combine deep Unity and C# expertise with strong systems thinking, enabling you to break down complex problems, define pragmatic solutions, and mentor engineers to raise the bar across the studio
- Extensive professional experience delivering complex but clean, portable and maintainable systems in Unity and C# at scale in video games, with multiple shipped titles across desktop, console and/or mobile
- Track record of owning architecture, systems and tooling in Unity and C#
- Deep proficiency with Unity profiling, optimisation and crash analysis, with a strong understanding of performance, memory management, garbage collection and async programming
- Strong software engineering fundamentals: design patterns, testing strategies, code review and documentation
- Ability to influence and align cross-functional stakeholders; excellent written and spoken communication skills
- Experience with Unity’s UI Toolkit is beneficial but not essential
- Familiarity with C++ is beneficial, particularly in contexts where Unity interfaces with native modules, but not essential
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a proactive approach to technical challenges
- Self-motivated with a commitment to continuous improvement and team support
- Experience mentoring engineers and contributing to team-wide technical growth
- Knowledge of Football Manager is beneficial; interest in football is a plus
What the job involves
- Reporting into: Lead Producer
- You will set and evolve engineering standards and own key architectural decisions; and you will work closely with engineering leads and other engineering teams, as well as with design, production, QA and other stakeholders across the studio deliver high-quality player experiences on desktop, console and mobile
- Your contributions will directly shape and steer the technical foundations and player-facing experience of Football Manager, helping deliver intuitive, performant, and engaging games to our global player base
- Define, communicate and evolve the Unity and C# architectural vision and standards for the studio; ensure alignment across multiple teams and products
- Own and drive cross-team technical initiatives that improve performance, maintainability, stability, iteration speed and flexibility across Unity projects and platforms
- Work hands-on in C# and Unity to design and implement complex and scalable systems and tools that underpin our games and development workflows
- Lead investigations into complex technical issues and guide teams in profiling, performance, memory usage, garbage collection, async programming, etc
- Champion a performance and stability culture: establish measurements and workflows to identify and eliminate bottlenecks
- Set the benchmark for code quality, testing strategies and documentation; embed practices that reduce defects and repeat work
- Work closely with engineering leads and stakeholders across disciplines to shape technical roadmaps, unblock delivery and mitigate risk early
- Influence planning and long-term architecture decisions; contribute strategic technical insight to roadmap discussions
- Coach and mentor engineers at all levels; provide code and design reviews, pair coding and technical guidance (without line-management responsibilities)
- Contribute to recruitment, onboarding and processes to grow Unity expertise across the studio
- Drive the development of editor tooling and automation that enhances productivity and streamlines content integration across engineering, art and design
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Sports and video games have long had an association with each other, with the FIFA franchise and NBA Jam just two of the many very popular series playable on home consoles from the early 90s onwards. But for many hardcore fans, the managerial aspect of the sport is more appealing. Football Manager, Sports Interactive's flagship title, leveraging real-life sports data to simulate the managerial experience and give gamers the opportunity to lead their favourite clubs.
This immensely popular franchise, distributed by SEGA among others, has rapidly gained in popularity and even outcompeted FIFA Manager, the franchise's managerial offering. With annual improvements to its simulation's accuracy and graphics, Football Manager is now considered to be head and shoulders ahead of any competition.
Sports Interactive is focusing on further developing its properties, including its newer and similarly well-received NHL Eastside Hockey Manager, forming partnerships with clubs and sponsors to allow real-life players and branding to appear in game. At the top of its game, Sports Interactive will continue innovating upon the genre through its focus on strategy, providing gamers with the ultimate sports management simulation experience.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
13% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- Healthcare - Private health care (including Dental) provided for every permanent team member
- Flexible Working - As long as you do your bit, we're happy
- Holidays - 25 days of paid holiday every year, so take that trip of a lifetime
- Social Events - Our Social Club organise regular events including an annual family day, office football tournaments and after work activities that every team member can get involved in
- Gym Membership - Want to keep yourself fit while working here? We help provide gym membership for a number of local gyms
Company HQ
Hackney Wick, London, UK
Leadership
Miles Jacobson
(Studio Director)Governor of East London Arts and Music since 2019. Industry Ambassador and Member of the Entertainment Fundraising Committee for War Child UK since 2006.
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