Remote Engineering Lead - AI-Driven Narrative Games

Operative Games; Los Angeles (CA); Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first culture

Flexible hours

Equity

Job summary

Operative Games is seeking an Engineering Lead to guide our growing technical team across gameplay, tools, infrastructure, and AI systems, reporting to the CTO. You’ll set direction, build systems, and support developers across disciplines.

You will connect Unreal gameplay systems with authoring tools, backend infrastructure, and AI integration to deliver immersive, player-driven narratives while maintaining engineering excellence and timely delivery.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software or game development experience, with 2+ years in a leadership or management role.
• Full-stack fluency across gameplay programming, tools development, and infrastructure (AWS, CI/CD).
• Unreal Engine (Blueprints & C++), with knowledge of how gameplay, tools, and runtime systems interact.
• Leadership DNA: manage teams, resolve conflicts, set direction, and maintain high morale and momentum.
• Strategic thinking balancing short-term execution with long-term scalability and tech vision.
• Collaborative mindset: work with creatives to integrate tech with narrative goals.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: set engineering best practices and maintain quality across projects and systems.
• Team Management: mentor and manage engineers across disciplines, fostering collaboration and growth.
• Project Planning & Execution: own the engineering roadmap with production and creative leads for timely delivery of features.
• Cross-Disciplinary Coordination: bridge engineering, design, and AI teams to align solutions with creative goals.
• Hands-On Development: contribute to architecture, prototyping, or critical path work as needed.
• Hiring & Scaling: recruit and onboard engineering talent as we grow the team.
• Process & Communication: improve dev workflows (CI/CD, code reviews, agile) and keep stakeholders informed.

Skills

Technical Leadership

Team Management

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Strategic Thinking

Hands-On Development

Hiring & Scaling

Gameplay Systems

Tools

Unreal Engine

CI/CD Tools

AWS

Job description

Operative Games is seeking an Engineering Lead to guide our growing technical team across gameplay, tools, infrastructure, and AI systems, reporting to the CTO. You’ll set direction, build systems, and support developers across disciplines.

You will connect Unreal gameplay systems with authoring tools, backend infrastructure, and AI integration to deliver immersive, player-driven narratives while maintaining engineering excellence and timely delivery.