Tools Engineer - Systems (Retro Studios)

Nintendo of America Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Nintendo of America Inc. is seeking a seasoned engineer at Retro Studios in Austin, Texas, to architect and evolve large-scale gaming systems. The ideal candidate will drive a clear technical vision and provide mentorship, fostering engineering excellence across teams.

This role emphasizes hands-on contributions to tool design and implementation, ensuring efficient game content creation. Candidates should have a robust game development history, strong communication skills, and experience managing workflows in diverse departments.

Qualifications

• 10 - 15 years' experience in game development or related industry preferred.
• History of developing pipelines from concept to shipping content.
• Familiarity with workflow needs of different departments.

Responsibilities

• Architect and evolve large-scale systems, defining technical vision and roadmap.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor engineers.
• Design and maintain tools for game content creation.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Clean, API-first design principles

Game development experience

Tools

WPF

Build systems

Job description

Retro Studios

Founded in 1998, Retro Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd., and a powerhouse in game development. Working hand-in-hand with Nintendo, we craft award-winning titles for the company's cutting-edge platforms, blending innovation, artistry, and gameplay excellence.

Our home base is Austin, Texas, a vibrant city known for its creative energy, live music, stunning natural scenery, and forward-thinking culture. With year-round sunshine and endless options for outdoor adventures, Austin offers the perfect backdrop for world-class developers to stay inspired, balanced, and at the top of their game.

Responsibilities

• Architect and evolve large-scale systems, defining and driving a clear technical vision and roadmap
• Adapt system designs to changing requirements while maintaining scalability, performance, and stability
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring engineers and setting standards for engineering excellence
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define requirements, communicate decisions, and deliver effective solutions
• Design, build, and maintain tools, applications, libraries, and plugins for game content creation
• Own the full lifecycle of tools: requirements, implementation, documentation, maintenance, and continuous improvement
• Identify bottlenecks and drive technical solutions to improve workflows and productivity
• Conduct code and technical reviews to ensure quality and identify opportunities for improvement
• Perform technical reviews of current tools and evaluate new technologies for possible use by the team
• Coordinate and estimate work to support planning, execution, and delivery of team commitments
• Contribute hands-on as an individual contributor while supporting overall project and studio goals

This job description outlines primary duties and requirements and is not intended to identify all tasks that may be performed; individuals occupying the position may be required to perform other duties. The company may modify job duties from time to time, either in practice or in writing.

Requirements

• History of developing pipelines from initial concept to shipping content
• Demonstrated ability to focus on minimizing redundancy by leveraging clean, API-first design principles
• Must possess strong communication skills
• 10 - 15 years' experience in game development or related industry preferred

Preferred

• A history working with build systems
• Strong understanding of WPF
• Previous GameDev experience
• Familiarity with build pipelines
• Familiarity with workflow needs of different departments

Retro Studios is an equal opportunity employer. We offer a welcoming and inclusive environment in service to one another, our products, the diverse consumers we represent, and the communities we call home. We do all of this with kindness, empathy, and respect for each other.