NPC Gameplay Engineer: Open-World StarCraft (Hybrid)

Blizzard Entertainment; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 79,000 - 146,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Paid holidays and vacation

Mental health & wellbeing programs

Job summary

Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, CA seeks a Gameplay Engineer, NPC to craft NPC gameplay systems for a new StarCraft chapter. You will deliver high‑quality behaviors that bring characters to life within a living world, collaborating with designers, animators, artists, and engineers.

This hybrid role focuses on scalable NPC features, tooling, and performance improvements, with a strong emphasis on ownership, iteration, and team-driven delivery.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of professional gameplay programming experience.
• Experience developing gameplay systems using C++.
• Experience shipping or contributing to a commercial game title.
• Experience working closely with cross-functional development teams.
• Demonstrated ownership and accountability in projects.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain NPC gameplay systems and interactions.
• Implement scalable NPC gameplay features for diverse scenarios.
• Collaborate with designers, animators, artists, and engineers.
• Develop tools, workflows, and debugging solutions for content creation.
• Optimize gameplay performance, stability, and maintainability.
• Partner with AI, animation, and gameplay teams for polished behavior.
• Prototype new features and iterate through playtests.
• Diagnose and resolve NPC-related issues during development.
• Contribute to technical design discussions and engineering best practices.
• Support a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

Skills

C++

Unreal Engine

NPC architecture

State machines

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, CA seeks a Gameplay Engineer, NPC to craft NPC gameplay systems for a new StarCraft chapter. You will deliver high‑quality behaviors that bring characters to life within a living world, collaborating with designers, animators, artists, and engineers.

This hybrid role focuses on scalable NPC features, tooling, and performance improvements, with a strong emphasis on ownership, iteration, and team-driven delivery.