Principal Gameplay Engineer

Lighthousegames

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Royal Leamington Spa, England, UK on site Until 8/22/2026 First posted November 5, 2025 Last posted November 5, 2025
Job description

Lighthouse Games is a new AAA studio in Leamington Spa. We are defined by our pedigree of talent, and serious ambition to build a new best-in-class game. When you join us at Lighthouse, you will be able to create the best work of your career, in an environment that feels truly collaborative. You will learn from the best, and work alongside the future greats of the gaming industry.

As a Principal Gameplay Engineer, you will assume a prominent role in planning and executing complex, data-driven, and scalable systems. Collaborating closely with our elite design team, you will spearhead the creation of immersive gameplay experiences, leveraging your unwavering passion and commitment to elevate quality standards at every turn. As a principal figure within the team, your wealth of expertise will be instrumental in imparting knowledge to junior colleagues, ensuring the consistent production of high-quality code across the entire team.

Your responsibilities will extend to close collaboration with creative teams to implement captivating gameplay features and systems. Taking ownership of the planning and development of substantial bodies of work, you will operate with minimal supervision, demonstrating your ability to deliver results autonomously. Your code contributions will adhere meticulously to all standards and guidelines, incorporating automated testing processes to ensure clean and robust outcomes.

Key Duties Include

  • Work closely with the creative teams to implement compelling gameplay features and systems
  • Own the planning and development of large bodies of work, with minimal supervision
  • Produce clean and robust code, following all standards and guidelines, including the use of automated testing processes
  • Be aware of risks in your work and the wider project, and actively mitigate them
  • Support less experienced team members, mentoring them, and raising the standards of the whole Engineering team
  • Pro-actively seek opportunities to improve the quality of everything we do
  • Actively take part in our collaborative and creative team spirit

Requirements

  • Experience as a Senior/Principal Gameplay Engineer on one or more console/PC titles
  • Excellent C++ skills, including profiling, debugging and optimizing code
  • Solid understanding of code architecture best practices
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to plan and meet scheduled goals
  • Work effectively and independently with minimum guidance and support
  • Passion for gaming and game development
  • Experience with Unreal Engine 4 or 5 on a AAA title

Desirable

  • Experience mentoring other Engineers
  • Experience working on current generation consoles
  • Familiarity with building data driven and scalable gameplay features
  • Experience with multi-threaded programming

Benefits

  • 25 Days Holiday, plus 1 day for your birthday
  • Studio Shutdown between Christmas and New Year
  • Discretionary Bonus Scheme
  • Private Pension Scheme
  • Private Healthcare
  • Health and Well-Being Benefits
  • Dental Care
  • Optical treatments
  • Mental Health Support
About this role

Summary

Develop scalable gameplay systems, collaborate with creative teams, mentor juniors, ensure high-quality code

Job title

Principal Gameplay Engineer

Experience level

senior level

Industry

gaming

Location requirements

Leamington Spa, UK, on-site; remote not specified

Salary

Not specified

Management role

No

Skills & keywords

Required skills

c++unreal enginedebuggingprofilingautomated testing

Preferred skills

mentoringcurrent generation consolesdata drivenscalable gameplaymultithreaded programming

Specializations

game developmentunreal enginecooptimizationmultithreading
Locations

Structured locations inferred from the posting.

Royal Leamington Spa, UK

On-site City