Principal Engineer

Unknown Worlds is seeking an experienced Principal Engineer to help drive the development effort on a new game project. As a key technical expert, you will play a critical role in building foundational systems in Unreal Engine 5 and guiding our engineering team through the transition to Unreal.

You excel at being a hands-on problem solver, helping to architect, implement, and optimize core gameplay and engine systems while also mentoring the team to deepen their Unreal expertise and develop strong technical foundations. This is a high-impact, broad-scope role—perfect for a generalist who enjoys working across a variety of systems. Reporting to the project engineering lead, you will help surface technical risks, refine development workflows, and contribute directly to the codebase while maintaining a strong focus on team mentorship.

This is a remote position on a fully distributed team.  We are looking for a candidate with the flexibility to collaborate with a team located primarily in the East and West Coast US time zones.

Responsibilities

• Architecting and developing key gameplay features and systems, ensuring they are well-integrated, performant, and aligned with the project’s creative and technical goals.
• Establishing a strong technical foundation for the project, designing scalable systems that will support long-term development and iteration.
• Providing clear and concise mentorship and technical guidance to engineers who are new to Unreal.
• Collaborating closely with the Engineering Lead to proactively identify technical risks and design effective mitigations.
• Contributing to technical documentation, capturing best practices and key architectural decisions to support long-term development.

Qualifications

• Expert level knowledge of game development in C++ and Unreal Engine, demonstrated through multiple shipped titles across multiple platforms.
• Passionate about mentoring and helping others grow–with a proven track record of providing code reviews, architecture reviews, and day-to-day support with empathy and patience.
• T-shaped skillset, with broad technical knowledge across game development systems, deep expertise in at least one area, and strong adaptability to new challenges and technologies.
• Effectively balance hands-on implementation with technical guidance.
• Possess excellent judgement in balancing long-term scalability and robustness with immediate development needs, ensuring pragmatic use of time and effort.

Preferences

• Experience with current generation console development, profiling and optimization.
• Previous work with engineering tools or asset pipelines as a secondary or complimentary skill.