Gameplay Tools Engineer

Gardens Interactive; United States; Remote; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salaries

Stock options

Healthcare coverage

Life & disability insurance

Retirement plans

Parental leave

Remote across NA

Job summary

Gardens Interactive, a fully remote studio, is seeking a Gameplay Tools Engineer to craft Unreal Engine tools that accelerate iteration across disciplines. You will partner with stakeholders, including audio and VFX, to build scalable solutions and act as a bridge between gameplay and backend teams.

You’ll own tool architecture, improve throughput, and help diagnose and optimize complex game systems while contributing to a collaborative, curious, and ambitious team culture.

Qualifications

• 3+ years building game tools across one or more projects.
• Experience building customized tools via the Unreal editor’s extension mechanisms.
• Familiarity with Wwise or similar audio middleware.
• Experience working closely with VFX systems and artists.
• Clear communication, collaboration, and the ability to work independently.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical architecture and implementation of multiple tools and supporting systems across the game, collaborating with stakeholders and production to improve iteration throughput.
• Collaborate with audio, VFX and design to meet development pipelines needs and enable scalable content production.
• Act as a bridge between gameplay and backend engineering to support analytics and diagnostics across game systems.
• Contribute to game stability by triaging issues and reducing development friction.

Skills

3+ years game tools

Unreal Editor extensions

Wwise / audio middleware

VFX collaboration

Clear communication & independence

Tools

Unreal Engine tooling

Game development workflows

Job description

At Gardens Interactive, we're building games centered on connection, collective adventure, and emergent stories. We believe the spirit with which we build games is reflected in the experiences our players have. The way we collaborate, solve problems, navigate uncertainty, and care for one another ultimately shapes the worlds we create. We're creating magical, shared experiences that bring players together and we know those experiences come from teams that are curious, resilient, ambitious, and deeply committed to one another.

We're a fully remote studio that embraces collaboration, thoughtful iteration, and the courage to explore new ideas. If you're excited by ambiguity, enjoy solving difficult problems with kind, talented teammates, and want to help build worlds where friendships flourish, we'd love to meet you.

As a Gameplay Tools Engineer, you will create custom Unreal Engine tools that support teams across the studio. You will partner with stakeholders to understand the unique needs of their iteration workflows and author bespoke tools using C++ within the Unreal editor and in-game environments that will accelerate those pipelines. You will be a force-multipler for the team, enabling rapid exploration of new features and comprehensive analysis of and decision-making regarding the breadth of content that powers the emergent interactions of our games.

A Day in the Life:

• Craft tools that support other disciplines (including art, audio, design) in efficient content creation, iteration and analysis.

• Work with individual developers to build features that can reduce manual effort and accelerate workflows.

• Playtest regularly with the team to understand the creative spaces our games are operating within in order to better support the team.

What You’ll Do:

• Own the technical architecture and implementation of multiple tools and supporting systems across the game, partnering closely with stakeholders and the production team to improve iteration throughput.

• Collaborate closely with audio, VFX and design stakeholders to understand the needs of their development pipelines and proactively create solutions that will allow content production at scale.

• Act as a technical bridge between gameplay and backend engineering teams to aid in the development of analysis and diagnostics systems across all aspects of our games.

• Contribute to the stability of the game by proactively assisting in the identification and triage of issues in game systems, collaborating on solutions, and reducing friction in the development process.

What You’ll Bring:

• 3+ years of experience building game tools across one or more projects.

• Experience building customized tools via the Unreal editor’s extension mechanisms.

• Familiarity with Wwise or similar audio middleware.

• Experience working closely with VFX systems and artists.

• Clear communication, strong collaboration, and the judgment to work independently, recognize constraints, and seek support when needed.

Nice to Haves:

• Previous experience on shipped multiplayer titles using Unreal Engine.

• Prior experience owning the decision-making and implementations of significant portions of the tools ecosystem of a game or engine.

• Experience profiling and optimizing gameplay, engine or infrastructure systems for large-scale content.

The Team:

• You will report to the Lead Gameplay engineer.

• You will join a team of gameplay engineers who work closely with other disciplines to champion the values that our games are centered on.

How We Work

We believe great games are built by people who care deeply about both the work and one another. Our values guide how we collaborate, solve problems, make decisions, and grow together. They're practical behaviors, not slogans, and they're part of how we hire, give feedback, and support one another every day.

We're looking for teammates who are excited to:

• Stay curious and ask thoughtful questions.

• Adapt when plans change.

• Exercise good judgment rather than chase perfection.

• Care for the success of the whole team, not just their own work.

• Pursue ambitious goals while remaining humble enough to keep learning.

• Commit fully to the shared adventure we're building together.

You’ll Thrive Here If...

• You enjoy asking questions before jumping to conclusions.

• You adapt comfortably when priorities evolve.

• You balance ambition with pragmatism.

• You communicate thoughtfully and seek feedback.

• You care about helping your teammates succeed.

• You embrace uncertainty as part of creating something new.

Please Note: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada. Gardens cannot assist with work authorizations or work visas. Applicants must also be willing to work within North American time zones (EST–PST).

Our Interview Process

(all interviews are 1 hour video calls on Google Meet unless otherwise noted)

• Step 1: People Operations Introduction

• Step 2: Hiring Manager Interview

• Step 3: Panel Interview (3 - 1 Hour Sections)

• Step 4: Gardeners Debrief

• Step 5: Offer

Life at Gardens

Gardens is a fully distributed game studio founded by creators behind titles including Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Blaseball, Dustforce, Ashen, Guild Wars 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more.

We're developing our flagship project: a multiplayer fantasy adventure inspired by the friendships, discoveries, and unforgettable stories that emerge when people explore together.

We believe the best ideas come from teams with diverse experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, and ways of thinking. Every Gardener helps shape not only what we build, but how we build it.

Each of us arrives by a different path, bringing unique experiences, perspectives, and ways of seeing the world. That range is part of what makes our games and our studio better than any one of us could build alone.

Gardens Offers:

• Competitive salaries and pay transparency

• Stock options

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage (100% for individuals, 90% for dependents)

• Life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, and additional benefits

• 401(k) contributions (U.S.) / RRSP + DPSP contributions (Canada)

• Paid parental leave

• A fully distributed remote studio across North American time zones

Benefits and perks listed may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Gardens and the country in which you work.

Physical Requirements: This is a primarily sedentary, remote role requiring the ability to remain stationary and perform computer-based work for extended periods, including sustained use of monitors, keyboards, mice, and game controllers for a minimum of six hours per day. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role. Gardens is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Encouragement: We believe that diverse perspectives make our team stronger and our games better. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every single qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Research consistently shows that talented people, particularly women, people of color, and those from historically underrepresented communities are less likely to apply unless they meet every listed requirement. We care far more about curiosity, growth, and a willingness to learn than checking every box.