This job listing expired on Mar 25, 2021
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Job Description: Principal Systems Programmer

Department: Engineering

~ The Studio

Compulsion Games is a first-party game studio and subsidiary of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios, located in Montreal, Canada.

As a boutique team of industry veterans, we trust and respect each other, with shared love and passion for our craft. Our games have won praise for their art, music, world-building and engaging narratives and we are now excited to be working on our next major project, which we can’t say too much about, just yet.

You might have noticed we like to take on troublesome themes and create characters with compelling, human flaws. Our story-telling typically has a healthy dose of darkness and comedy thrown in for good measure.

~ The Need

We’re looking to add a highly-experienced Engine Programmer to the engineering team, to be responsible for the management, improvement and development of our core systems which interact with various touchpoints within the production teams; from Gameplay, Design and QA, to Animation and Art. The role is crucial to ensuring the productivity and effectiveness of our engineering efforts and the way we make games.

~ The Role

Our games are made using Unreal Engine, with a solid C++ codebase and a number of systems that are intertwined with other disciplines, so previous experience and proficiency with UE4 and C++ is highly preferable, although proprietary systems experience is also considered. As a Principal, you will lead the engineering challenges and solutions that deal with the underlying technology and platforms including operating system-level interfaces and technologies, including platform details like how to access services and APIs on Xbox, memory and code optimization.

~ The Person

We’d like you to have at least 5 years of experience in the games industry, preferably working with PC and/or Console Games and we expect you to have shipped at least 1 to 2 high-quality games in your current or recent position. With this exposure, we expect you to understand the fundamental principles of working in a diverse and multi-disciplinary team and the life-cycle of a successful project.

Specific Role Requirements:

  • Operating system-level interfaces and technologies like multithreading, file I/O, optimization, etc.
  • Work on platform details like how to access services and APIs on Xbox
  • Work on memory optimization
  • Extend our story and moment-to-moment systems and pipelines to help create a compelling game experience
  • Work on code optimization to improve the game’s performance
  • Participate as part of the design and technical team to evaluate and improve the game as a whole through constructive criticism and creative contributions
  • Work and share with other industry veterans who are passionate about their craft
  • You must have a strong understanding of Unreal Engine 4.
  • You should be a highly skilled and confident programmer using C++.
  • We would hope you are someone that plays games regularly and understands the fundamentals that help make great performing games.
  • Your technical skills should be high-quality, combined with excellent communications skills in order to collaborate effectively with a diverse group of artists, designers and animators.

~ Our Culture

Compulsion Games is a quality-led studio with a humble team, who enjoy experimenting with an artistic approach to making games. We like to hire people who are drawn to our core values of trust, autonomy, harmony and craftsmanship; living up to those values and sharing our vision.

The team is passionately committed to championing both diversity and accessibility for our people and our players; a consistent value throughout the Xbox Game Studios group. Therefore a core part of our hiring process is ensuring new hires are well-aligned in order to build a harmonious team and company. We care deeply about our team and their wellbeing, so you’d be joining a close-knit group that are creative, inclusive and care about developing one another.

This is a full-time position, with full salary and studio benefits based in our new Downtown location, by Atwater Metro station. Our new studio is currently under construction, which we’re excited to be moving into once the situation with COVID-19 safely allows us to do so.