Narrative Systems Engineer – AI-Driven Story Tools (Remote)

Operative Games; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first culture

Equity

Competitive salary

Job summary

Operative Games is seeking a Systems Engineer hybrid role in the Los Angeles area to architect the core systems for narrative authoring and in-game story logic. You will design a data-driven event system, build authoring tools, and shape the backend data layer to support dynamic storytelling.

You will collaborate with writers, designers, and AI engineers to ensure seamless integration of content and runtime systems, while championing usability and rapid iteration in authoring pipelines for a

Responsibilities

• Architect a flexible, data-driven event system to trigger narrative content and track player state.
• Build simple, scalable authoring tools and templates for writers and designers.
• Design and implement the backend/database layer to manage narrative state, progression, and content.
• Collaborate with narrative designers, AI developers, and gameplay engineers for integration.
• Advocate for usability and quick iteration in authoring pipelines for non-technical users.
• Prototype features rapidly and iterate based on team feedback to support evolving storytelling.

Tools

Unreal Engine

Twine

Ink

Job description

Operative Games is seeking a Systems Engineer hybrid role in the Los Angeles area to architect the core systems for narrative authoring and in-game story logic. You will design a data-driven event system, build authoring tools, and shape the backend data layer to support dynamic storytelling.

You will collaborate with writers, designers, and AI engineers to ensure seamless integration of content and runtime systems, while championing usability and rapid iteration in authoring pipelines for a