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Computer Games

Senior Engine Programmer

Saratoga SpringsHybridFull TimeSenior$100,000–$150,000 /yrPosted 23 days ago

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Required skills

  • Senior Engine Programmer
  • C++
  • game engine technology
  • data systems
  • archive formats
  • binary file formats
  • serialization systems
  • asset pipelines
  • data pipelines
  • loading

Nice to have

  • content pipelines
  • editor tooling
  • level streaming
  • proprietary engines
  • Unreal Engine
  • mod-friendly content formats

Role summary

Rushdown Studios is seeking a Senior Engine Programmer to build, optimize, and maintain central technologies for multiplayer games. This role focuses on engine data systems, archive formats, and performance optimization for PC and console platforms, using modern C++. The ideal candidate has 5+ years of professional C++ experience, including game engine development and shipping commercial games. Responsibilities include designing data formats, developing migration tools, ensuring deterministic builds, and solving performance issues. Experience with data pipelines, concurrency, and computer science fundamentals is essential. Graphics and gameplay engineering are not required. The role is hybrid in Saratoga Springs, NY, or remote within the Eastern US.

Founded by games industry veterans, Rushdown was created with a simple philosophy in mind: We believe that when talented developers are consistently challenged and given clear ownership of their work, extraordinary things will happen. As a co-dev game studio, we now focus on solving some of the most difficult problems that face multiplayer games — and we bring our experience working on games like PUBG, League of Legends, and Rocket League with us. We truly love the work we do and we want to funnel our passion and expertise into features and games that billions of players will enjoy worldwide.

Our Role

Rushdown Studios is looking for a Senior Engine Programmer to join us in support of our partner studio! In this role, you’ll work alongside our team to build, optimize, and maintain central technologies capable of servicing multiple games with unique needs.

Our ideal candidate is a self-motivated and demonstrated team player with the ability to juggle and jump between different tasks as necessary. Prior game development experience is required for this role, but we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of the requirements listed below!

Work Location: Rushdown Studios is based in Saratoga Springs, NY and we have a strong preference for local candidates willing to work from our office on a hybrid basis (i.e., Tuesday-Thursday) or fully remote candidates in the Eastern United States. However, we're always open to expanding our list of remote-eligible states for the right candidate, as well.

Disclaimer: Please note that this is not a gameplay engineering role. Graphics and rendering experience is not required for this role.

Responsibilities

  • Design, develop, and maintain the engine's data systems using modern C++, including the archive formats for the engine.
  • Build next-generation data formats that support versioning, merging, and fast runtime loading.
  • Develop tools that migrate existing content to new formats without losing data.
  • Make data builds deterministic and cacheable to ensure the same inputs always produce the same output.
  • Profile and optimize loading and streaming on both PC and console platforms.
  • Write clean and intuitive code that can easily be understood by external developers and extended in the future.
  • Collaborate with tools, editor, build, designers and gameplay programmers to understand how content is made and where it slows down.
  • Solve crashes, performance bottlenecks, and data problems on both PC and console platforms.

    • Requirements

  • Five (5) years or more of professional experience with C++, including industry experience building and maintaining proprietary game engine technology.
  • Experience developing and shipping commercial games, as well as the broader ability to write clear, maintainable, and portable code.
  • Experience designing or maintaining binary file formats, serialization systems, or asset and data pipelines.
  • Strong understanding of computer science fundamentals (e.g., data structures, algorithms, concurrency, memory layout).
  • Experience profiling and optimizing CPU, memory, and I/O performance.
  • Experience with multithreaded programming, synchronization, and parallel processing.
  • Willingness to selflessly put player experiences first, before even your own code and ego.
  • Proactive approach to communication, particularly when it comes to unblocking yourself and navigating obstacles as part of a team.

    • Nice-to-Haves

  • Experience with content pipelines, editor tooling, or level streaming in proprietary engines or Unreal Engine.
  • Familiarity with mod-friendly content formats, plugin and archive systems, or community modding tools.
  • Experience with compression, content-addressed storage, or incremental build systems.
  • Familiarity with scripting languages (e.g., Python, Lua) for tools and pipeline automation.
  • Experience with console development, including optimizing for specific platforms and navigating related performance constraints.

    • Benefits:

  • Compensation: $100,000-150,000/year. Please note that final base pay will ultimately depend upon a combination of factors, including your prior experience, general qualifications, and broader skill set.
  • 9 Paid Holidays plus Flexible PTO and Annual Winter Break Closure
  • Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
  • Annual Video Game Budget
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • Paid Parental Leave

    • EEO Statement

    At Rushdown Studios, we believe that we're made better by each of the different perspectives that our team members bring to the table. We said it above, and we'll say it again: We want to hear from you, even if you don't meet all of the requirements for a specific role.

    We're also an equal opportunity employer and we do not discriminate on the basis of race; color; ancestry or national origin; religion; physical or mental disability; age; sex, including pregnancy; sexual orientation; gender, gender identity, or gender expression; medical condition; genetic information; or marital, military, or veteran status.

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