At a Glance
- Tasks: Join the team to build a new serialization stack for Unreal Engine.
- Company: Epic Games, a leader in interactive entertainment and game development.
- Benefits: Flexible start date, collaborative culture, and opportunities for growth.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team committed to innovation and excellence.
- Why this job: Work on cutting-edge technology that powers millions of games and experiences.
- Qualifications: Strong C++ skills and a passion for low-level systems programming.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
At the core of Epic’s success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it’s building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we’re always innovating. Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users.
We are looking for an Engine Programmer Intern to join the team building a new serialization stack for Unreal Engine. This schema-based serialization system will be at the heart of how engine content is saved, loaded, and versioned. As part of the serialization team you will be given a feature to own within our development cycle — such as schema evolution, data migration / recovery, type bindings, or debug tooling. You will work with your engineering lead and partner-teams across the engine to flesh out the system and build core technology that millions of players and creators rely on every day.
In this role, you will:
- Design and implement a feature within the serialization stack, taking it from proposal to shipped code with guidance from your engineering lead.
- Write high-performance, memory-efficient C++ for systems where correctness and backwards compatibility are critical.
- Build tooling that helps users work with serialized data — such as diffing, visualization, and human-readable text formats.
- Develop thorough unit tests to guarantee data integrity across save, load, and version-upgrade paths.
- Collaborate with partner teams across the engine to integrate the serialization system with their data and workflows.
- Participate in code reviews and design discussions, learning how core engine technology is built and maintained at scale.
What we're looking for:
- Strong C++ fundamentals, including a solid grasp of memory management, pointers, and familiarity with the fundamentals of template.
- Good understanding of data structures and how data is laid out and represented in memory.
- Interest in low-level systems programming — file formats, binary data, compilers, or engine internals.
- A rigorous, detail-oriented approach.
- Being comfortable debugging unfamiliar code and methodically tracking down the root cause of a problem.
- Being able to explain a technical design and ask good questions.
- Self-driven, eager to learn, and open to feedback, using it to improve your work.
This internship has a flexible start date in 2027. Recruitment will be ongoing until teams find an ideal match. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the posting location for the duration of the internship.
Epic Games deeply values diverse teams and an inclusive work culture, and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer.
Engine Programmer Intern in London employer: Epic Games
Epic Games is an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant and inclusive work culture that fosters creativity and collaboration among talented individuals. With a comprehensive benefits package covering 100% of health-related costs and a strong focus on employee well-being, including mental health support, Epic provides ample opportunities for professional growth in the cutting-edge field of machine learning and game development. Located in a dynamic environment, employees are empowered to innovate and contribute to groundbreaking projects that shape the future of interactive entertainment.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Engine Programmer Intern in London
✨Join Developer Communities!
Dive into online communities like GitHub or Stack Overflow. Contributing to open-source projects can really showcase your coding skills and catch the eye of hiring managers at companies like Epic Games.
✨Attend Tech Meetups and Hackathons
Get your name out there by attending local tech meetups and hackathons. It's a perfect way to network with industry professionals and fellow interns, while also demonstrating your coding prowess in a collaborative setting.
✨Leverage University Career Services
Don't forget about your university's career services! They often have partnerships with companies like Epic Games, and can help you access exclusive internship listings and workshops tailored for aspiring interns like us.
✨Show Off Your Work
Create a portfolio showcasing your coding projects on a platform like GitHub Pages or personal website. When applying for internships, we should link this to provide tangible proof of our skills and creativity, making us stand out to Epic Games!
We think you need these skills to ace Engine Programmer Intern in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Side Projects:If you've got any side projects or contributions to open source, make sure to highlight them in your CV. We want to see what you can create! Include links to your GitHub or any relevant platforms to give us a taste of your coding style and skills.
Tailor Your CV for Software Engineering:Make your CV pop by tailoring it specifically for software engineering. List relevant programming languages, frameworks, and tools you’ve worked with, and showcase any tech stacks you're familiar with. This will help us quickly see how you fit into the Epic Games team!
Let Your Passion Shine in Your Cover Letter:In your cover letter, don't just list your skills—tell us why you're passionate about software engineering! We love to see candidates who are eager to learn and grow, so share what excites you about this field and how a role at Epic Games can help you on your journey.
Demonstrate Your Learning Mindset:As this is an internship, focus on your willingness to learn and adapt! We’re keen to see examples of how you’ve tackled challenges or learnt new skills in the past. Bring that eagerness to your application, showing us that you're ready to dive into a real-world software environment at Epic Games!
How to prepare for a job interview at Epic Games
✨Showcase Your Coding Skills
Since you're aiming for a software engineering internship, be ready to code on the spot or discuss your past projects. Brush up on your problem-solving skills, and practise coding challenges on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank. We want to see how you approach problems and apply your knowledge, so having a few coding examples up your sleeve will definitely help!
✨Bring Your Portfolio to Life
Prepare a portfolio that highlights your coding projects—don't just list them! Be ready to explain your thought process, the technologies used, and any challenges you faced. It’s not just about the final product; we want to hear how you made it happen, so this narrative will show your depth of understanding and passion for software development.
✨Get Familiar with Technical Questions
Expect some technical questions or scenarios in the interview that assess your understanding of algorithms, data structures, and software design. Practise explaining your coding decisions clearly—it's less about getting the right answer and more about demonstrating your thought process and reasoning skills, which are crucial for growth in an internship.
✨Highlight Your Willingness to Learn
As an intern, your enthusiasm and eagerness to learn are key! During the interview, emphasise your willingness to tackle new challenges and pick up new skills. Companies like Epic Games are often looking for candidates who can grow with them, so remind us why you're excited about opportunities to learn and contribute in a team environment.
