Lead Tooling Engineer

ZipRecruiter; London; Remote; GBP 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in interactive storytelling seeks a Lead Tooling Engineer to spearhead the development of innovative tools for narrative creation. In this fully remote role, you will manage a small team while enhancing the technical direction for storytelling across platforms. Ideal candidates will have extensive Unity 3D experience and a passion for empowering creative teams with high-quality tools.

Benefits

Employee equity plan

Company pension

Flexible working practices

Stock options

Career progression opportunities

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on Unity 3D experience.
• Proven experience leading development of creative tools at scale.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of internal tools for story creation.
• Manage and mentor a small team of engineers.
• Partner with creative teams to align tools with storytelling.

Skills

Leadership

Problem Solving

Unity 3D

Technical Documentation

Multi-platform Deployment

Tools

C#

Data-driven UI frameworks

Job description

Job Description

Lead Tooling Engineer | Games Development | £80k | Fully Remote

Are you passionate about building powerful, intuitive tools that empower creative teams? Do you love solving complex technical challenges and want to shape the future of interactive storytelling?

Our client is creating immersive narrative experiences across mobile, console, PC, and the cloud—and we’re looking for a Lead Tooling Engineer to take their internal systems to the next level. You’ll lead the development of core tools that enable their storytellers to craft emotionally rich, branching dramas and deploy them seamlessly across platforms.

This is a high-impact, hands-on role where you’ll lead a small team of two engineers, collaborate closely with narrative and design teams, and help define the technical direction of the studio’s tooling pipeline. There’s also significant room for growth—as theor studio scales, you’ll have the opportunity to take on broader leadership responsibilities and shape long-term strategy.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Lead the design and development of intuitive, scalable internal tools for story creation and publishing
• Manage and mentor a small team of two engineers, setting technical direction and supporting their growth
• Build multi-platform tooling workflows that support deployment to mobile, PC, console, and cloud
• Define technical documentation and requirements for both internal use and third-party developers
• Oversee and evaluate outsourcing efforts to extend tooling capacity when needed
• Continuously improve the performance, usability, and scalability of internal systems
• Partner with creative teams to ensure tools align with design and storytelling goals
• Contribute to the studio’s long-term technology roadmap with room to grow into senior leadership

What We’re Looking For:

• Proven experience leading the development of game or creative tools at scale
• 3+ years of hands-on Unity 3D experience
• Experience with tooling for multi-platform deployment (PC, console, mobile)
• Strong leadership and communication skills; able to guide a small, agile team
• A pragmatic, solution-oriented mindset focused on enabling creativity
• Comfortable working remotely with a high degree of autonomy
• Keen interest in building scalable tools that empower creative teams

Bonus Points For:

• Experience with data-driven UI frameworks (e.g. WPF, Angular, React)
• Background in mobile publishing and tooling for app deployment
• Familiarity with scripting integration (e.g. Lua, Ink)
• Prior experience coordinating with external development or outsourcing partners
• Understanding of cloud gaming platforms or cross-platform deployment solutions
• Exposure to narrative design tools or interactive story pipelines
• Passion for storytelling and/or narrative-driven games
• Interest in AI-assisted development tools and pipelines

Salary and Benefits:

• Salary up to £80k
• Remote working
• Employee equity plan
• Company pension
• Flexible working practices
• Stock options
• Chance to progress career

Tech Stack & Tags:

Unity 3D | C# | Game Tools | Internal Tooling | Multi-Platform | Console | PC | Mobile | Remote | Engineering Leadership

If you’re ready to build tools that power the next of interactive narratives—and grow your leadership career in a creatively ambitious studio—then we want to hear from you.

Apply now and help shape the future of story-first game development.