Engineering Lead

Frontier is an independent video game developer and publisher, crafting immersive gaming experiences with fun gameplay and unparalleled artistic quality. Renowned for its iconic creative management simulation games, Frontier captivates players worldwide with immersive and authentic game worlds. The modern studio is located in the vibrant technology hub of Cambridge (UK). The talented team at Frontier are dedicated to nurturing our existing portfolio and delivering our exciting future roadmap. This role is offered on a full in-studio basis or a hybrid basis (minimum 3 days per week in the studio). We can provide a comprehensive relocation support package as part of any offer, should you need to relocate.

We are looking for an Engineering Lead to join our Gameplay team and play a key role in delivering quality experiences to our players. Joining an established and diverse team, you will bring technical expertise, leadership experience, management skills, and energy to the development of our games. You will program primarily in C++ working with our in-house Cobra engine and cross-platform game code. As a lead in our development team you will have a fantastic opportunity to make valuable technical contributions to our projects, through both hands-on programming and broader technical duties. You will manage a team of programmers, supporting the development of their skills and personal growth. You will collaborate with other lead programmers and specialists in other disciplines, and work closely with game designers and QA testers to help tune the player experience. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the team behind our multi‑million‑selling, cross‑platform titles.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

• Leading the development of major gameplay features and systems.
• Making valuable technical contributions, through both hands‑on programming and broader, non‑coding technical duties.
• Line managing a group of talented and passionate programmers, with diverse skillsets and experience.
• Designing and implementing systems using structured, efficient, maintainable, and well‑documented code.
• Collaborating with project leadership and production to define the contents for key deliverables and milestones.
• Taking ownership of topics in project reviews or leading other meetings, as required.
• Working with stakeholders to understand, agree and deliver the technical and creative vision for the project.
• Analysing requirements and collaborating with their team on time estimates for feature and system workstreams.
• Ensuring that technology is usable, scalable, and suitable for long‑term maintenance.
• Considering the impact of systems on other disciplines and projects.
• Ensuring that documentation for systems, features and workflows is created and maintained.
• Guiding programmers with their documentation and providing feedback.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• A track record in the development of quality gameplay features in released titles.
• Excellent problem solving and programming skills using modern C++ in a large codebase.
• Expertise in people management and leadership skills with a passion for developing individuals and teams.
• Excellent communication skills, providing the ability to motivate and inspire your team, and provide clear direction.
• A history of handling the non‑coding technical aspects of development, such as branch management, TRC analysis, bug/crash triaging, and so forth.
• Resilience under pressure with the ability to remain calm and make important decisions.
• Experience identifying and developing compromises for stakeholders with differing needs.
• A genuine passion for video games.
• A desire to be part of a world class team and contribute to its continued success.
• A proactive approach to collaborative learning and knowledge sharing with colleagues.
• A drive to expand your existing expertise in game development, and a passion for continued learning and self‑improvement.

BONUS IF YOU HAVE

• Experience working with a proprietary game engine.
• Cross‑platform development experience on shipped titles, including consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, etc.).
• Advanced profiling and optimisation skills for CPU performance and memory usage.
• Working knowledge of an entity component system.
• Expertise in scripting languages such as Lua and Python.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

You will work with talented and passionate people to support, develop or publish our sophisticated and enduring games, in a creative, collaborative and inclusive environment. We love what we do, and we work hard to provide outstanding experiences for our players. Wellbeing is a big focus at Frontier, and we are continually evolving how we can support our people. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and provide a range of wellbeing activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes a success‑based annual bonus, share option schemes, life assurance, private family healthcare, flexitime working hours, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, in‑house subsidised catering, support with relocation, a Cycle to Work scheme, free bike servicing, and social activities and events. We strive to create an environment where everyone can fully demonstrate their capability and potential. If you therefore need any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition representative.