The match engine team at our studio are looking for a talented software engineer to lead the development on our technical infrastructure in the team and help us take our football match simulation to the next level. The match engine team are responsible for the technological advancements of our state-of-the-art in-house engine which simulates and visualises football matches.

You will join a passionate and flourishing team who care deeply about the realism and visual quality of the match simulation in our games.

As part of this team, you will be working with multiple teams across the studio to improve the engine and technical infrastructure behind this simulation. This includes working on our pipeline, tooling, automation, networking, as well as providing technical support for the teams that are responsible for our artificial intelligence, animations, physics, and graphical improvements to our engine. A core responsibility for this role will be technically designing and improving the workflow of other engineers within the team whilst collaborating closely with our artists and animators. You will be leading the team that is responsible for developing and maintaining the internal tools, that we depend on to enable quick iteration and innovation within the match experience.

You will be an important part of driving the direction of the match experience that our users have in our products, and you have full input into the team specifically as well as the studio generally with the opportunity to voice your ideas and suggestions.

Our match simulation is shared across multiple products and is a critical part of the games we make, and you will consider challenges involving the match experience across several platforms, including on mobile devices.

We are looking for self-motivated people with good communication skills who can complete work independently as well as part of a team.

Key Responsibilities

Lead and support the match technologies and tools team to deliver agreed objectives set in line with studio and department objectives.
Lead development on the technical workflow and practices across the match team, ensuring the development aligns with the priorities of the studio.
Responsibility for the infrastructure and workflows across the match team, looking to continuously improve and help deliver projects/features on time and on quality,
Develop, extend, improve, and maintain our code base, workflows, and tools.
Work closely and iterate with our match engine, animation, AI, graphics, and tools teams across the studio to continuously improve the look and feel of our match simulation.
Work across multiple platforms and projects to ensure we deliver the best performance and experience to our customer base.
Collaborate with other disciplines, including artists, animators, QA, producers, and other engineering team, on both development and future planning.
Work closely with seniors/leads and production to drive new features and set long term roadmap.
Help research and implement new simulation technologies as needed.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Strong knowledge of C++, design patterns and software engineering.
Minimum seven years of professional experience using C++ as the main language.
Experience designing and developing systems within the games industry.
Strong academic background with a 2:1 degree (or equivalent) or higher in a relevant technical field such as computer science, software engineering, mathematics, or physics.
Strong mathematical, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Good communication skills for effective collaboration with software engineers, artists, animators, QA, and production staff.
Experience in leading teams and mentoring individuals.
A good understanding of performance and optimisation.
Self-motivated with a drive to improve yourself and others continuously.

Studio Overview

Sports Interactive (SI) is a multi-award-winning game development studio and the world’s leading developer of sports management simulations. Founded in 1994, SI became a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEGA in 2006. Based at the Here East technology hub in Stratford, East London, the SI team continues to expand as it brings its titles to an ever-growing audience via an increasing variety of delivery platforms.

SI has enjoyed sustained commercial and critical success for its extremely detailed and immersive simulation experiences. Its games are amongst the highest-rated PC titles (according to Metacritic) and frequently occupy both the ‘top selling’ and ‘most played’ charts on Steam.

The Sports Interactive team is diverse and international, bringing together world-class and high potential talent with a combined passion and drive for creating genre-defining games. Team members enjoy a flexible working schedule and a relaxed studio environment that encourages a close-knit, collaborative approach to game development.

SI is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief. Our studio has disabled access and facilities.

SI offers a generous benefits package to all full-time team members including gym membership, in-house massage therapy and private healthcare (including dental). The studio is also a London Living Wage employer and proudly boasts one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the industry with just over 30% of the current full-time team members having been at the studio for 10 years or longer. SI also has many longstanding partnerships with leading charities, local schools and major sporting organisations.

Further information on Sports Interactive, its games and life at the studio can be found at www.sigames.com.

This job description is an accurate reflection of the duties and responsibilities of the post as at the time of writing but will be changed from time to time as the job is a career development job which will be adjusted according to the progress of the job holder. It does not form part of the contract of employment.