Mob Entertainment is a startup multimedia studio that is best known for our hit indie horror game "Poppy Playtime". This franchise is one of the hottest new properties in gaming, and our team is naturally expanding as our ambition expands. To give a taste of our brand's popularity, more than 100 billion YouTube views of Poppy Playtime related content have occured since the game's launch 4 years ago.
Director of Engineering – Mob Entertainment
About Mob Entertainment
Mob Entertainment is an independent video game studio known for creating imaginative, high-quality interactive experiences. We blend creativity, innovation, and technical excellence to bring iconic titles to life. As we continue to expand our portfolio and scale our teams, we are seeking a seasoned Director of Engineering to lead and evolve our engineering organization.
Role Overview
The Director of Engineering is a senior leadership role responsible for defining the technical vision, driving engineering excellence, and overseeing all gameplay and game systems engineering at the studio. This leader will guide teams across gameplay engineering, systems architecture, tools, and technical operations—ensuring the high performance, stability, scalability, and creativity required to build world-class games.
This role requires a hands-on, collaborative leader who can operate across strategic planning, technical execution, and people leadership.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership Strategy
- Define and drive the studio’s technical strategy across gameplay engineering, game systems, tools, performance, and platform support.
- Partner with creative, production, and design leaders to align technical execution with game vision and business goals.
- Establish engineering standards, processes, and staffing plans that scale with the team and product roadmap.
- Identify and mitigate technical risks across gameplay features, backend systems, and performance goals.
Gameplay Systems Engineering Ownership
- Oversee the development of gameplay features, character mechanics, AI systems, physics interactions, and animation integrations.
- Lead the architecture and implementation of core game systems—including engine extensions, save systems, frameworks, data pipelines, networking components, and optimization paths.
- Ensure systems and gameplay engineering teams deliver clean, scalable, maintainable code in alignment with studio best practices.
- Provide technical direction and hands-on guidance in complex engineering challenges.
Team Management Mentorship
- Manage and grow a multi-disciplinary engineering team, including Leads, Senior Engineers, and technical specialists.
- Build a culture of ownership, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Mentor engineers in career development, technical skills, and leadership capabilities.
- Partner with People Operations to optimize hiring, onboarding, training, and team structures.
Cross-Functional Partnership
- Work closely with Production to define milestones, scope, schedules, and resourcing.
- Collaborate with Art and Design to translate creative concepts into technically feasible solutions.
- Champion quality by working closely with QA, ensuring performance, stability, and reliability across all releases.
Technical Operations Delivery
- Oversee build pipelines, version control workflows, automation processes, and CI/CD strategies.
- Guide performance optimization efforts across platforms and hardware specifications.
- Ensure smooth releases and patches through close coordination with publishing, QA, and support teams.
- Evaluate, adopt, and integrate new technologies, tools, or workflows.
Qualifications
Required
- 10+ years experience in game engineering, including gameplay and/or systems engineering.
- 3+ years in a senior engineering leadership or director-level role within a game studio.
- Strong proficiency with Unreal Engine, including C++ and real-time game development.
- Proven experience shipping at least one AAA or high-quality indie/mid-scope title.
- Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams through full production cycles.
- Strong understanding of game architecture, systems design, gameplay mechanics, performance optimization, and platform constraints.
Preferred
- Experience at a small-to-mid sized studio or startup environment.
- Understanding of backend or online systems integration for live games.
- Familiarity with DevOps tools, CI/CD pipelines, and automated build/testing strategies.
- Passion for player experience and high-quality gameplay.
Mob Entertainment is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or religious creed, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, family or parental status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. All employment decisions are based on a person’s merit, business needs, and role requirements. If you require further accommodations or have questions regarding accessibility of our roles, please reach out to info@mobentertainment.com
United States
