Senior Gameplay Systems Programmer

Rocksteady Studios is an award‑winning, critically acclaimed video game developer. Founded in 2004, we are home to the widely celebrated Batman: Arkham series of games. Our philosophy for game development is all about treating people well to create quality entertainment that stands the test of time. We’re a one‑project studio that built our success by combining genre‑defining gameplay and character‑driven cinematic narrative with AAA production values. Born in the heart of London, our multicultural team takes inspiration from the culture and history of our home in one of the most diverse cities in the world.

You'll own the design and delivery of core gameplay systems, solving complex technical problems with creativity and pragmatism. You'll work closely across disciplines, bringing strong technical judgment and a self‑directed approach to everything you do.

Your Role Accountabilities

• Implement and evolve core gameplay systems and features through all stages of development, from prototyping and iteration to optimisation and polish.
• Build robust, scalable gameplay architecture across player‑facing and underlying systems, including mission frameworks, progression, save/load flows, and core runtime infrastructure.
• Partner closely with Design and other disciplines to translate creative goals into reliable technical solutions, while communicating risks, trade‑offs, and opportunities clearly.
• Develop tools and workflows that improve iteration speed, usability, and reliability for content creators and cross‑discipline teams.
• Debug and resolve complex gameplay issues across code, data, and systems, driving problems through to practical, high‑quality outcomes.
• Identify technical debt, performance issues, and stability risks early, and make pragmatic improvements that strengthen the game over time.
• Contribute to strong engineering practices through maintainable code, thoughtful reviews, clear interfaces, and a proactive approach to ownership.
• Support production processes including estimation, task breakdown, backlog review, and collaboration with production partners.

Requirements

• Strong UE5 professional experience developing gameplay systems in C++ for shipped games.
• Proven ability to architect and maintain complex gameplay features with a focus on reliability, flexibility, and long‑term maintainability.
• Excellent debugging and optimisation skills, with experience improving runtime performance, memory usage, and system stability.
• Strong understanding of game technology fundamentals and how gameplay systems interact with tools, content, and engine‑level systems.
• Effective collaborator and communicator, comfortable working closely with Design, Production, QA, and other engineering teams.
• Self‑directed, organised, and able to take ownership of substantial areas of work with minimal guidance.

Nice to Have

• Experience with mission, progression, or save‑system development.
• Experience working on large‑scale or AAA games.

Hybrid Working – This role is advertised as a Hybrid work model, that combines remote and in‑office work, following our current company policy and to be agreed with your Line Manager.

Championing Inclusion at WBD Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.