The Initiative is an early stage first-party game development studio located in Santa Monica and part of Microsoft’s XBOX Game Studios. Our studio is about craft, creating story, innovating, and looking ahead to the next big thing.
At the Initiative, we are looking for collaborative problem-solvers who want to dive into something new and create groundbreaking experiences for our players. Join us for this once in a career opportunity to help build the studio, define culture, and create an environment to attract world-class talent.
As a Senior Engine & Pipeline Engineer, you are versed in today’s game development pipelines. You are able to implement the technology to ship AAA games, working closely with fellow design, art, and engineering developers. You are versatile, have a strong development and production-sense, and the expertise to inspire and empower others to do their best work.
Responsibilities
As an experienced Engineer, you will work directly with design, art, and engineering teams to deliver the following:
- Establish and improve upon content creation pipelines aimed at high quality and rapid iteration.
- Develop efficient, straightforward, and robust in-engine implementations that enable new features without negatively impacting existing features.
- Work with the team to develop maintainable and shippable code.
- Ensure that the team is well versed on using new features and that those features work well within the overall code base.
- Maintain strong relationships between the different disciplines.
- Actively contribute to growth of new start up studio. Lead by example, including demonstrating a willingness to give and receive feedback, collaborate with others to share techniques, ideas, and contribute to a positive working environment.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of C++ software engineering experience.
- Experience shipping games with market / critical acclaim.
- Experience in systems, content pipelines, and tools in support of art and design.
- Excellent debugging and optimization skills.
- Ability to quickly prototype and iterate in collaboration with others.
- Self-directed, taking initiative to drive progress.
- Strong communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.
