Lead Software Engineer

Who We Are

Hangar 13 is an internal 2K development studio that crafts unforgettable AAA gaming experiences across all major platforms . With studios in Brighton (UK), Brno, and Prague (CZ), we work as one team to bring to life narrative-rich games that keep players immersed. Each of our locations provides the opportunity to work with some of the most talented developers in the industry, on creatively challenging and exciting projects, in a diverse and welcoming environment.

Job Summary 

The Lead Software Engineer drives the Gen9 (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S) technical strategy ensuring new releases are performant, compliant, maintainable and meet modern platform standards. Sitting at the heart of the engine/platform team, this role unblocks the build and certification pipeline, and ensures technical quality across internal and external teams.

They will be owning system-level engineering focused on CPU performance, memory efficiency, and platform-specific implementation. Success in this role directly impacts game stability and performance, platform compliance, and content development velocity across the studio.

 

Duties and Responsibilities  

• Own Gen9 technical strategy, including budget setting (CPU, memory, I/O), platform roadmaps, and risk management.
• Profile, optimize, and stabilize CPU and memory (threading, job systems, allocators, streaming, serialization) using first-party and engine tooling; set and enforce performance targets.
• Supervise platform integration and compliance (SDK updates, platform requirements, achievements/trophies, save systems, entitlement, packaging, and submissions).
• Direct and support external partners: review architecture, maintain a high technical bar across co-dev.
• Improve CPU and memory profiling and optimisation strategy
• Collaborate cross-discipline to align performance budgets and acceptance criteria; translate technical constraints into clear requirements.

Essential Skills, Attributes and Experience

Technical

• Expert C++ (C++17 or later) with strong low-level systems knowledge (concurrency, lock-free patterns, cache behavior, file I/O, memory allocators).
• Deep experience with Gen9 consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X|S): SDKs, devkits, first-party profiling/debugging tools, submission and certification processes
• Proven CPU performance and memory optimization on large codebases; hands-on with profilers (e.g., Unreal Insights, first-party console profilers)
• Solid debugging across native code and platform APIs (callstacks, minidumps, GPU/CPU sync points, stalls, deadlocks).
  
  

Leadership & Collaboration

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives end-to-end, align multiple teams, and drive decisions with measurable outcomes.
• Experience managing external partners: setting technical contracts, reviewing deliverables, and maintaining quality.
• Excellent communication—able to translate platform constraints into production plans and clear guidance for content and engineering teams.
  
  

Experience

• 10+ years of professional game development with a systems/engine focus, including 2+ shipped AA/AAA titles on console (at least one Gen8 or Gen9).
• Prior remaster/port/conversion experience for legacy titles or multi-platform releases.
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

 

Highly Desirable 

• Shipped titles on both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S
• Advanced memory management (custom allocators, small-object optimization, fragmentation mitigation) and job system tuning.
• Familiarity with Mafia technology/history or open-world systemic performance challenges (AI, physics, navigation, population).
  
  

 

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Hangar 13  prides itself on the diversity of its team members, partners, and communities.  For this reason, we remain committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all aspects of the employment relationship, from recruitment and hiring through compensation, benefits, discipline and termination.  

As an equal opportunity employer, we are also committed to ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation(s) to participate in the job application and/or interview process, to perform their essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.  Please contact us if you need to request reasonable accommodation.

SECURITY NOTICE -  We have recently been made aware of increasing occurrences of bad actors posing as company HR personnel to gain information from "potential candidates", in the form of job interviews and offers. These scams can be quite sophisticated and appear legitimate.

Please know that Hangar 13 and 2K never use instant messaging apps to contact prospective employees or to conduct interviews.

If you believe you have been a victim of such a scam, you may fill out a complaint form at https://complaint.ic3.gov/ and https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ detailing as much as possible. We are taking these matters very seriously and apologize for any inconvenience.

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