Research Engineer "Bots & Behaviors" (M/F/NB)

Company Description

Ubisoft is a global leader in video games, with teams around the world creating original and memorable gaming experiences, from Assassin's Creed to Rainbow Six, Just Dance, and many more. We believe that diversity of perspectives advances both players and teams. If you are passionate about innovation and want to push the boundaries of entertainment, join our adventure and help us create the unknown!

Ubisoft Bordeaux

Founded in 2017 by a handful of Ubisoft experts, our studio has over 400 talents from 20 different nationalities. Our teams work on Ubisoft's biggest franchises: on Assassin's Creed, with lead production of Assassin's Creed Mirage in 2023, on Assassin's Creed Shadows and the Claws Of Awaji expansion, and on Beyond Good & Evil 2. Beyond our AAA productions, we contribute to the group's technological innovation, thanks to our expertise center around the Anvil game engine and Ubisoft's online services, Online Services. We have also created an R&D center, La Forge, which brings together Ubisoft engineers and researchers to work together on prototypes that will serve game productions, particularly around AI issues.

In 2024, we inaugurated our new premises in the Bastide-Niel eco-district, to develop the best Ubisoft gaming experiences and technologies in an exceptional, accessible, and central environment.

Job Description

As a research engineer within Ubisoft La Forge France, you will contribute to creating quality games by building innovations based on the scientific state-of-the-art:

• You will play a key role in facilitating the adoption of our innovations by industrializing them with our internal partners, technology teams (our game engines, for example) or directly with games (production teams),
• You will participate in research and prototyping projects by ensuring that they can prove their relevance in our main internal game engines or in released or in-production game environments at Ubisoft,
• You will, where appropriate, participate in publications nourished by these works.

You will primarily focus on bots & NPCs, covering topics of sequential agent decisions for gameplay. The technologies used may include reinforcement learning (online, offline), scripted decision trees, language models, etc.

Responsibilities:

• Define and develop cutting-edge prototypes within your team in conjunction with its members (researchers, engineers, students)
• Bring these prototypes to an industrial maturity allowing their use in a production context, which involves collaboration and pedagogy to help the teams concerned develop their skills
• Participate in the publication of results obtained in quality scientific conferences and journals
• Communicate on progress made inside and outside Ubisoft
• Where appropriate, supervise and guide students, mentor less experienced colleagues

Qualifications

• High-level scientific education, such as a master's degree or engineering school, in computer science, mathematics, statistics, machine learning
• Significant experience in applied or fundamental research (in industry or academia)
• Great autonomy in programming through mastery of Python and C++
• In-depth experience with machine learning frameworks, storage systems, distributed systems, high-performance computing, etc.
• Motivation to innovate in the video game industry

Nice to have

• A doctorate in computer science, mathematics, statistics, machine learning or equivalent experience associated with a list of relevant publications (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR or GDC) would be a real asset
• Significant experience in software development or other relevant experience in the field of machine learning or in the video game industry would be a real asset

Additional Information

• Contract: Permanent
• Location: position based in Bordeaux – France
• Remote work: We adopt a hybrid work model that helps you stay connected with your team and aligned with company priorities, while giving you the opportunity to maintain your work-life balance. Note that some roles are entirely office-based and are not eligible for hybrid work.

Recruitment process

• Phone interview with one of our recruiters
• One or more business interviews with the team
• An interview with the Development Director France of La Forge

If your application is not selected, you will receive a negative response.

Benefits

To find out more about our studio and Ubisoft benefits, go here: https://www.ubisoft.com/fr-fr/studio/bordeaux

We seek to enrich the lives of players by creating original and memorable gaming experiences, and by striving to always improve the positive impact of our games. To achieve this, we ensure that we offer a benevolent and inclusive work environment, we support the communities in which Ubisoft operates through charitable initiatives and we strive to reduce the environmental impact of our activities. Find out more about our societal impact here.

Consult this guide which aims to support you in your application, and discover our actions to encourage more diversity and inclusion.