EA SPORTS™ is one of the most iconic brands in entertainment – connecting hundreds of millions around the world to the sports they love through a portfolio of industry-leading video games.
EA SPORTS™ FC UFC franchise offers the electrifying spectacle and entertainment of MMA for over 20 million players across the globe. It delivers fluid and responsive mixed martial arts through inventive Gameplay Software Engineer - UFC gameplay technology.
Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, the EA SPORTS™ UFC team is on a mission to become the world's greatest fighting game. If you're passionate about building immersive digital entertainment, this is the role of a lifetime.
We are looking for a passionate and talented Senior Gameplay Engineer to help shape the core player experience and elevate our combat systems to the next level. In this role, you will be a key architect of the moment-to-moment combat gameplay, driving how punches, kicks, takedowns, physics, and AI behaviors feel and react in real time. You will work at the intersection of technology and creativity, collaborating closely with game designers, animators, and technical leaders to turn ambitious design concepts into smooth, responsive, and visually stunning gameplay.
You will report to a Senior Gameplay Engineer and work closely with designers and producers to bring ideas to life.
Your Responsibilities:
- Design & Build Core Systems: Architect, implement, and refine high-performance gameplay systems including player controls, combat logic, character animation state machines, physics interactions, and spatial AI.
- Collaborate Across Disciplines: Partner closely with designers, animators, audio engineers, and producers to translate creative vision into engaging, high-fidelity gameplay mechanics.
- Engine & Performance Optimization: Contribute to core engine capabilities, multi-threaded architecture, memory management, and network synchronization to ensure fluid frame rates and ultra-responsive controls.
- Integrate Emerging Tech & AI: Pioneer the integration of emerging AI techniques and automated workflows into development pipelines to enhance innovation, dynamic character behavior, and team efficiency.
- Tools & Workflow Development: Build and maintain developer-facing tools, editors, and performance profiling utilities to empower designers and animators.
- Tune & Polish: Continuously iterate on gameplay mechanics to ensure responsiveness, impact clarity, frame accuracy, and overall player satisfaction.
- Mentorship & Leadership: Guide and mentor junior and mid-level engineers, promoting software engineering best practices, code quality, and technical excellence across the team.
Your Qualifications:
At EA, we know that great talent comes from diverse backgrounds. You don’t need to meet 100% of the listed requirements to be a great fit for this role. If you meet most of these qualifications and are excited about building world-class gameplay, we strongly encourage you to apply!
- Experience: 5+ years of professional software engineering experience in video game development, with a strong portfolio of shipped titles or core gameplay systems work.
- Core Technical Skills:
- Advanced proficiency in C++ and object-oriented software design.
- Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, 3D math (linear algebra, vector math, quaternions), and physics.
- Deep experience with debugging, memory optimization, multi-threading, and performance profiling.
- System Expertise: Hands-on experience developing gameplay systems such as combat mechanics, player controllers, animation trees/IK, physics, or game AI.
- Innovation Mindset: Proven track record or active affinity for leveraging emerging AI technologies and automation to optimize workflows and drive technical innovation.
- Collaboration & Communication: Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical team members.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Nice to Haves:
- Experience developing for modern console platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S).
- Deep passion for combat sports (UFC, MMA, Boxing) or fighting games.
- Familiarity with dynamic animation techniques, procedural movement, or physics-driven hit reaction systems.
- Familiarity with modern version control tools (Perforce, Git).