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Principal Game AI Programmer
1 year ago
We are looking for a Principal Game AI Programmer for our next big game!
THE JOB
As a Principal Game AI Programmer on the talented and passionate programming team behind RETURNAL you will work closely with a team of game programmers and designers to help drive the next evolution of Housemarque games.
As a Principal Game AI Programmer your main responsibilities are architecting and improving AI technologies and tools in our games such as behaviors, navigation and state-machines. You will be working closely with designers to allow us to create excellent AI characters as part of our award-winning gameplay. You will also be supporting our programmers and designers by providing technical mentorship and constructive feedback.
What will your day-to-day look like?
At Housemarque we work within a continuously improving Large Scale Scrum framework and as a Principal Game AI Programmer you will have the opportunity to affect the AI development in all of the phases of that process. That means having a significant role in the roadmap planning regarding AI technologies, championing those plans through each of the scrum events and finally bringing them to life during a development sprint.
Your typical day at Housemarque would look something like this:
“Arriving at the studio after an easy commute to the core of Helsinki, you grab a morning coffee and chat with colleagues at the kitchen table. Browsing your inbox at your desk, you see an email from the Lead Designer asking for support to design a new Enemy AI for the next milestone. You accept a meeting invite for that afternoon to discuss further.
It’s time to dig into your current sprint tasks! After an hour of work with a pathfinding algorithm in three-dimensional space while listening to music it’s time for the daily standup meeting. You and your peers share brief updates, discuss a problem, and one of the other programmers offers to help. Afterwards you discuss further with another programmer about their current task.
Lunchtime! You discuss in a Slack group and decide to go to a favourite restaurant of yours nearby. After lunch you dive back into your tasks before your afternoon meeting with the Lead Designer. In that meeting you come up with some great ideas together that require new features from AI technology. You are excited to add them into the backlog list and discuss more with the team the following week. Headphones back on, you finish that pathfinding task before heading home.”
What will help you to be successful in this role?
- 8+ years of experience working as a programmer within the games industry
- At least one shipped AAA retail game working on AI
- An experienced vision of how to push AI systems forward to the state-of-the-art
- Mastery of C++
- Extensive experience working in a multi-discipline team, with both technical and non-technical members
- Fluent written and verbal English skill
These can further add to your success:
- Experience working with AI on a first or third person action shooter game
- Familiarity with common commercial game engines
- Experience working within an Agile software team structure
- Passion in video games
Our Studio
At Housemarque, we believe " Game is King! " because gameplay always comes first.
With technical excellence and compelling narrative, spiced with our trademark neon flair and top-notch audiovisual feedback, we want our players to always feel actively engaged with the worlds we have created for them.
Our latest Award-Winning game Returnal , released on PS5 in 2021, embraces all these qualities. THIS is our DNA!
We value Nordic work-life balance by growing sustainably and ensuring our employees have the time and means to develop personally and professionally during work time.
We were established in 1995 with strong roots in the Finnish demoscene . In June 2021 we joined the Playstation Studios , after years of partnership.
If you wish to join us for our next journey, apply today!
What we offer to you?
- Competitive salary, benefits, healthcare, Nordic work-life balance
- Tailored immigration and relocation package to help you get settled into Finland
- A warm and welcoming atmosphere at our cozy Helsinki office
- Freedom, flexibility and openness in a collaborative culture
- Brilliant, diverse and empathetic colleagues to work with
- Exciting and ambitious projects executed with the best tools
- Access to Playstation Studios collaboration, games and more!
This is a permanent, full-time position based in Helsinki, Finland.
We will start interviewing promising candidates immediately so please apply as soon as possible.
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