Principal AI Programmer - Studio Elevation (Remote within the UK)

We are looking for an experienced Principal AI Programmer to join our dynamic team. You will play a critical role in developing innovative AI systems essential to our gameplay experiences within Virtual Reality, while collaboratively helping us explore, refine, and polish AI-driven VR gameplay. This position is ideal for someone passionate about AI in games, who thrives in collaborative, creative environments, and is keen to push the boundaries of what is possible with VR.

In this role, you will:

• Implement and develop Game AI systems tailored to VR environments.
• Collaborate with designers and engineers to craft intelligent NPCs and reactive game worlds.
• Optimize AI for performance, ensuring seamless gameplay in VR.
• Research emerging AI and VR technologies, assessing and integrating innovative approaches into development.
• Mentor junior team members and contribute to best practices for AI programming in VR.

The rundown:

• Permanent role
• Full time (37.5 hours per week)
• Fully remote within the UK
• Salary is competitive and dependent on experience

Key responsibilities:

• Take ownership of our AI systems, pipelines and set-ups, delivering cutting edge AI character behaviour in VR.
• Develop the perception, behaviour and planning systems that underlie NPC and creature AI, integrating with Unreal 5 and custom code.
• Develop the controlling logic for NPC character behaviour, utilizing standard Unreal AI systems, your own code and new UE5 AI tech like Mass Entity and State Trees.
• Ensure AI systems and data are robust, maintainable and well documented, and AI workload is consistently performant for a stable VR framerate.
• Work alongside other disciplines, planning AI alongside animation, gameplay, art, audio and design requirements for best player experience.
• Help guide the design teams when making combat areas and other AI-driven experiences.
• Help with project planning for your areas of work, liaising with project management for best outcomes and predictable timely feature delivery.
• Self-develop your own knowledge of state-of-the-art AI techniques and the inner nuances of Unreal 5’s AI systems.
• Be a positive behavioural and mental role model for the team and studio.
• Help with staff development, departmental structure, mentoring and hiring.

Requirements:

The skills you’ll need:

• 5+ years of professional AI programming experience, with a minimum of one shipped title on a current-generation console, PC, VR headset or mobile.
• A thorough knowledge of C++ including high-performance programming and good 3D maths skills.
• Thorough knowledge of underlying AI systems including state machines, behaviour trees, perception/navigation systems and animation/physics requirements.
• Experience delivering compelling AI combat with believable navigation, cover, tactical enemy squad coordination, and strategic high-level AI planning.
• Shipped game title(s) with believable and engaging AI behaviour using a modern game engine, delivering a balanced, enjoyable player experience.
• A passion for working with level design, animation and other disciplines, clearly communicating AI needs and best practice, enabling the creation of challenging and satisfying player experiences.
• Strong English communication skills with a focus on positive cross discipline teamwork and an ability to communicate complex technical information to non-technical staff.
• A committed team player, recognizing the importance and value of people within a technology environment.

The nice to haves:

• Professional experience of VR game development.
• Professional experience developing AI using Unreal 4 or 5.
• Prior experience with Perforce and Visual Studio.
• Experience developing for Meta/Oculus, Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox.

Benefits:

We are nDreams – we develop and publish the world’s most immersive VR games. We believe the best workplaces and games are created by diverse, happy and safe teams. We're committed to building a culture centred on respect, wellbeing and balance. It’s crucial we make our games and industry more accessible to underrepresented communities. We strive to live this through the people we hire, the experiences we create and the causes we support. We want everyone to have the opportunity to bring their best, authentic self to work.

Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments during the interview process by emailing interviewing@ndreams.com or speaking to your nDreams recruiter. For more information about reasonable adjustments, check out this guidance from Scope.

We offer great perks, including flexible hours, duvet days, your birthday off, dedicated personal development time and support, as well as regular socials. Beyond this, there’s an excellent holiday offering, pension scheme, health insurance, life cover and much more.