Our client, the studio behind shapez and shapez 2 is building one of the greatest factory and automation games ever made.
They’re looking for an experienced Principal C++ Engineer to take ownership of the game’s core simulation architecture, designing and developing a high-performance, deterministic system capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of player-built machines, conveyor belts, pipes, and other interconnected elements across a large game world. While the game is being developed in Unreal Engine 5, its core simulation will be built as a standalone module in pure C++, ensuring performance, scalability, and deterministic behaviour across devices during cooperative multiplayer sessions.
This is a deeply technical, architecture-defining role for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of systems design, real-time simulation, and game development.
You’ll be a founding technical pillar on an all-new engineering team, shaping standards and decisions from the ground up.
This role is open only for candidates located in Germany. RESPONSIBILITIES
Architect, own, and build the Gameplay Core (Pure C++) DLL: a deterministic, lockstep, multithreaded simulation running at 4Hz, capable of handling millions of entities across multiple planets
Apply data-oriented design patterns and implement robust serialisation for large persistent state
Design and deliver the DLL + Unreal Plugin integration layer
Define, own, and enforce code quality standards across the entire project
Document architectural decisions, technical standards, and design rationale, ensuring all developers are aligned
REQUIREMENTS
Located or willing to relocate to Germany.
Extensive professional C++ experience
Strong foundation in software architecture, performance optimisation, graph theory, algorithms, and modularity
Demonstrated experience designing and shipping deterministic and/or multithreaded simulations (lockstep, fixed-point or controlled floating point, deterministic data structures)
Experience with save/load systems for large, persistent game or simulation state
Background in games, simulation, or another domain where you’ve shipped real-time systems to end users
Proven experience leading others in technical direction
Experience working in at least one fully remote team
Nice to have: Unreal Engine experience, including plugin/module authoring (UHT, UBT) and Hands-on experience with factory or automation games, even as a player
Nice to have:
Experience shipping two or more commercial game titles.
Previous involvement in developing factory-building, automation, or simulation-heavy games.
Experience with Unreal Engine 5, particularly Mass Entity or custom Entity Component Systems (ECS).
Experience developing standalone C++ simulation modules and integrating them with game engines.
Familiarity with multiplayer synchronisation, deterministic networking, or lockstep architectures.
A personal interest in factory and automation games, including an understanding of the complex systems and gameplay interactions that make the genre engaging.
WHAT THEY OFFER
Fully remote, full-time position with flexible scheduling.
Healthy work-life balance culture, and paid overtime when it happens.
Monthly personal growth allowance for courses, books, or other learning materials.
Focus days dedicated to researching or learning new skills
Team gatherings are organised once a year to meet and collaborate in person.
Budget to set up or upgrade your home workspace, including the hardware of your choice.
Yearly salary review to ensure your pay keeps pace with market standards, and an automatic increase of 2% per year.
ABOUT THE COMPANY: A small indie studio focused on creating thoughtful, deeply satisfying factory and automation games that players truly love. The team started with web games, found success on PC, and has since grown into a distributed team delivering highly rated simulation experiences.
The studio values:
Direct communication and ownership over unnecessary bureaucracy.
Player-first design shaped by close collaboration with the community.
Long-term partnerships with people who want to grow alongside their projects.
Team size: ~12 people, slowly growing Work mode: Fully remote Engine: Unity Platform: PC