Principal Software Engineer, Engine Systems

Roblox Corporation; San Mateo (CA); Hybrid; USD 295,000 - 345,000; Full time

Job summary

Roblox Corporation in San Mateo, CA, seeks a Principal Software Engineer for Engine Systems to own and innovate on foundational components of the Roblox engine. You will work on the DataModel and engine internals, collaborating with teams to deliver scalable solutions across desktop, mobile, and console platforms.

The role reports to the engineering manager and operates in a hybrid model three days per week (Tue–Thu) at our San Mateo HQ, with opportunities to shape core engine systems and data

Qualifications

• Experience working on game engine internals.
• Ability to build and maintain high-performance engine systems.
• Strong curiosity to learn and stay up-to-date with technology.

Responsibilities

• Develop engine code that performs well for all user-created games on the Roblox platform.
• Build core systems and data structures used in the Roblox engine, collaborating with other teams to find universal solutions.
• Take ownership of projects throughout their full lifecycles.
• Run code that performs well on all Roblox-supported devices—from desktop to mobile to console.

Skills

Game engine internals

System maintenance

Curiosity

CPU internals curiosity

Job description

Principal Software Engineer, Engine Systems

Every day, tens of millions of people come to Roblox to explore, create, play, learn, and connect with friends in 3D immersive digital experiences– all created by our global community of developers and creators.

At Roblox, we’re building the tools and platform that empower our community to bring any experience that they can imagine to life. Our vision is to reimagine the way people come together, from anywhere in the world, and on any device. We’re on a mission to connect a billion people with optimism and civility, and looking for amazing talent to help us get there.

A career at Roblox means you’ll be working to shape the future of human interaction, solving unique technical challenges at scale, and helping to create safer, more civil shared experiences for everyone.

As a Principal Software Engineer on the Engine DataModel team, you will own and innovate on the foundational components that form the backbone of the Roblox platform. In the Roblox Engine, the DataModel is a tree‑like structure that is analogous to a scenegraph in other 3D engines. This role will report to the engineering manager and will be based out of our HQ in San Mateo, CA in a hybrid model 3 days a week (Tuesdays to Thursdays).

Our team owns:

• The core structures and systems are used to build the DataModel and interact with it.
• The C++ reflection bindings that form the Engine’s Luau API surface and let creators interact with the DataModel. We’ve built custom codegen tooling to generate the C++ for these reflection bindings and other related structures.
• DataModel serialization … and much more!

You will:

• Develop engine code that performs well for all user‑created games on the Roblox platform.
• Build the core systems and data structures used in the Roblox engine, working with other teams to find universal solutions.
• Take ownership of projects throughout their full lifecycles.
• Execute code that performs well on all the devices Roblox supports— from desktop clients to mobile phone clients to console clients.

You have:

• Have experience working on game engine internals
• Responsibility for building and maintaining systems that work optimally.
• Curiosity to learn and stay up‑to‑date on technology developments.
• Have a curiosity about the actual work the CPU does when you use smart pointers, templates, virtual functions, and blocks of memory, both structured and raw.

Annual Salary Range

$295,250 — $345,040 USD

Roles that are based in an office are onsite Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with optional presence on Monday and Friday (unless otherwise noted).

Roblox provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Roblox also provides reasonable accommodations to candidates with qualifying disabilities or religious beliefs during the recruiting process.

For US based roles only, please note the Company may not be able to employ candidates for this role who have United States work authorization related to certain U.S. visa categories, or support future H-1B sponsorship at this time.