Principal Technical Sound Designer

Mob Entertainment; United States; On-site; USD 121,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit sharing

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) matching

FSA/HSA

Paid time off

Sick time

holidays

Parental leave

Job summary

Mob Entertainment is hiring a Principal Technical Sound Designer to architect scalable audio systems for AA/AAA titles. You’ll work with Unreal Engine, Wwise, and MetaSounds to optimize performance, build dialogue systems, and contribute hands-on sound design under tight deadlines.

The role requires shipping multiple titles and strong documentation/communication skills to empower sound designers across projects in a horror-focused studio environment.

Qualifications

• Multiple shipped AA/AAA titles and pro experience mixing shipped game projects.
• Experience supporting multiple AA/AAA projects concurrently.
• Deep expertise with Wwise, UE integration/API, dynamic mixing and spatial audio.
• Extensive experience with Unreal Engine, C++, Blueprints, and MetaSounds.
• Proven architecture, build, optimization, and documentation of core game-audio systems.
• Experience optimizing game audio for CPU/memory performance.
• Experience developing audio systems for networked multiplayer games and latency/sync challenges.
• Proven examples of building and refining dialogue systems from scratch.
• Experience developing Unreal Editor modules, utilities, and workflow tools.
• Strong technical documentation and knowledge-transfer skills.
• Sound design experience aligned with creative audio goals, especially horror.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build modular, scalable audio systems using C++, Blueprints, Wwise, and Unreal Engine.
• Work across multiple AA/AAA projects, designing scalable cross-project solutions.
• Develop deep integrations using the Wwise UE API.
• Design and maintain dynamic mixing and spatial audio for gameplay, dialogue, environments, and cinematics.
• Develop advanced audio functionality using Unreal MetaSounds.
• Profile and optimize audio for CPU, memory, and platform constraints.
• Architect scalable dialogue systems balancing immersion and clarity.
• Build UE Editor modules, utilities, and tools to improve workflows.
• Create clear technical documentation for sound designers and juniors.
• Contribute hands-on sound design when needed and deliver production-ready results under deadlines.

Skills

Unreal Engine

Wwise

C++

Blueprints

Audio systems

Dynamic mixing

Dialogue systems

Editor tools

Technical docs

Multiplayer audio

Tools

MetaSounds

Job description

Mob Entertainmentis a startup multimedia studio that is best known for our hit indie horror game "Poppy Playtime". This franchise is one of the hottest new properties in gaming, and our team is naturally expanding as our ambition expands. To give a taste of our brand's popularity, more than 200 billion YouTube views of Poppy Playtime related content have occurred since the game's launch 6 years ago.

We’re looking for a Principal Technical Sound Designer with deep production experience building and shipping high-quality technical audio systems for AA/AAA games. This is a senior individual-contributor role for someone equally comfortable with audio systems architecture, Unreal Engine, Wwise, C++, Blueprints, optimization, mixing, tooling, and hands‑on audio production.

What You’ll Do

• Architect and build modular, scalable, and portable audio systems from the ground up using C++, Blueprints, Wwise, and Unreal Engine.
• Work across multiple AA/AAA game projects simultaneously, designing solutions that can scale across projects and teams.
• Develop deep integrations using the Wwise Unreal Engine API.
• Design and maintain sophisticated dynamic mixing and spatial audio systems in Wwise, supporting gameplay, dialogue, environments, cinematics, and changing player context.
• Develop advanced audio functionality using Unreal Engine MetaSounds.
• Profile and optimize audio for CPU, memory, runtime performance, and platform constraints.
• Architect and refine scalable, modular, and portable dialogue systems, balancing in-world immersion with gameplay and dialogue clarity.
• Build Unreal Editor modules, utilities, and tools that improve audio implementation workflows and reduce repetitive work.
• Create clear technical documentation and how-to guides that enable sound designers and junior technical sound designers to independently use and maintain the systems you build.
• Contribute hands‑on sound design when needed.
• Deliver high‑quality, production‑ready results under short deadlines and high‑pressure development conditions.

What We’re Looking For

• Multiple shipped AA or AAA titles, with professional experience mixing shipped game projects.
• Experience supporting multiple AA/AAA projects concurrently.
• Deep expertise with Wwise, its Unreal Engine integration/API, dynamic mixing, and Wwise Spatial Audio.
• Extensive professional experience with Unreal Engine, C++, Blueprints, and MetaSounds.
• Proven experience in architecting and building core game‑audio systems from scratch.
• Proven expertise optimizing game audio for CPU and memory performance.
• Proven experience developing audio systems for networked multiplayer games, including challenges such as replicated audio state/events, latency and synchronization, and multiplayer voice chat.
• Multiple proven examples of building and refining dialogue systems from the ground up.
• Deep experience developing Unreal Editor modules, utilities, and workflow tools.
• Strong technical documentation and knowledge‑transfer skills.
• Professional sound design experience and a strong understanding of how technical systems support creative audio goals.
• Experience working in horror games or horror‑focused interactive audio is strongly valued. At minimum, candidates should demonstrate familiarity with and enthusiasm for the genre and an understanding of how audio systems can support tension, atmosphere, player uncertainty, pacing, and dynamic scares.
• A demonstrated ability to make strong technical and creative decisions when time, performance, or production constraints are significant.

We’re looking for more than familiarity with these technologies. Strong candidates should be able to demonstrate specific shipped examples of systems they personally architected, built, optimized, documented, and supported in production.

Salary Range:

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Final compensation within the applicable salary range will be determined based on factors such as the applicant’s experience, qualifications, and work location.

San Francisco, CA; New York City, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; Boston, MA; & Seattle, WA DC Metropolitan Areas: $164,000- $215,000USD annually

Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Miami, FL, Portland, OR, Raleigh–Durham, NC, Philadelphia, PA, Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN, Phoenix, AZ
Salt Lake City, UT Metropolitan Areas: $143,000 - $187,000 USD annually

All Other U.S. Locations: $121,000 - $159,000 USD annually

Mob Entertainment offers the following benefits to all eligible U.S.-based full‑time employees: profit sharing; medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) matching; FSA/HSA; paid time off; sick time; holidays; and parental leave.

Mob Entertainment is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and complies with all federal, state, and local laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. We are committed to providing equal opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, military service, or any other protected class under applicable state or local law. Mob Entertainment also considers all qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with Fair Chance laws as well as any other applicable state and local laws.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Mob Entertainment’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.