Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.
Our studio operates as a remote-first workplace, offering flexible work arrangements.
PLEASE NOTE: At this time, we are only able to hire candidates who are legally eligible to work in Canada and reside within Canada.
We are looking for a Gameplay AI Software Engineer to drive the technical direction and execution of a new original game being developed in Unreal Engine 5. You will be embedded in a core gameplay team to implement gameplay features and systems within our games that are essential to delivering a polished, performant and fun experience. This role is remote-friendly in Canada with Pacific-time overlap required.
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Work across disciplines to build, refactor and maintain a variety of robust, flexible, and well-architected AI features.
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Work with the design team to prototype and implement AI behaviors that empower the fun.
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Implement enemies, NPCs or any kind of AI managed characters.
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Work with gameplay engineers to integrate developed AI systems.
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Implement optimizations in perception systems and decision-making systems to make the AI performant.
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Work on navigation & pathfinding systems and demonstrate the ability to debug complex AI issues.
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Integrate and maintain AI middleware across all platforms.
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Partner closely with design and content teams to build high quality and fun experiences.
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Drive engineering quality across gameplay code, emphasizing performance, maintainability, extensibility, and production-readiness.
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Establish engineering best practices for Unreal Engine 5 development, including code review standards, debugging workflows, profiling habits, and technical planning.
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Collaborate with technical leadership to break down risks, define implementation strategies, and align engineering execution with project goals and production timelines.
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Communicate clearly with stakeholders about technical constraints, trade-offs, dependencies, and execution plans.
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Have 8+ years of professional game development experience , with demonstrated technical leadership through project ownership, mentorship, and setting engineering standards.
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Have 5+ years of experience with C++ and Unreal Engine , including gameplay architecture, runtime systems, debugging, and optimization.
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Have deep experience building and maintaining gameplay systems that are responsive, scalable, and designer-friendly.
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Advance knowledge on blueprints and AI decision making tools (Unreal behavior trees, utility AI, etc.).
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Demonstrate confidence in using navigation and pathfinding systems.
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Are comfortable working across systems boundaries, collaborating with multiple disciplines, and balancing short-term production needs with long-term technical health.
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Bring a strong ownership mindset, practical decision-making, and a focus on helping teams move effectively under production constraints.
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Experience with the Unreal Engine 5 systems, like Blackboards, StateTree, and EQS.
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Familiarity with Perforce, Jenkins, Unreal Build System, Unreal Gauntlet.