Senior Game Systems Programmer

Description

Are you a senior or staff-level systems programmer, engine programmer, or low-level C++ engineer who has built core technology for complex real-time software?

Do you enjoy shaping runtime architecture, improving performance, mentoring engineers, and turning difficult technical problems into reliable systems?

If so, we're looking for someone like you to join our team at APL.

We are seeking a senior game systems programmer to help us advance interactive 3D training and simulation capabilities for vital national security challenges. You'll join a multidisciplinary team moving ambitious ideas from early designs to robust game‑engine‑based capabilities. This is an opportunity to bring game‑industry systems programming, engine architecture, and system performance into an environment focused on public service and long‑term mission impact.

• Your primary responsibility will be to architect, develop, test, and improve real‑time software systems that support simulation, interactive 3D visualization, scenario execution, and training.
• You will provide technical leadership for performance‑sensitive C++ software involving engine systems, physics models, runtime architecture, distributed simulation, data flow, networking, interaction, or visualization.
• You will define and evolve foundational systems such as state management, resource loading, streaming, serialization, platform abstraction, scenario control, synchronization, messaging, simulation execution, or data pipelines.
• You will integrate game engines, custom software frameworks, physics models, simulation components, rendering systems, data sources, hardware interfaces, and external tools into reliable interactive capabilities.
• You will profile, debug, and improve complex software systems across CPU, GPU, memory, networking, storage, latency, throughput, load time, and real‑time frame‑budget constraints.
• You will mentor engineers, guide architecture and code reviews, communicate technical tradeoffs, and help the team build software that is performant, maintainable, testable, and usable.

We consider you a fit if you meet our minimum qualifications:

• Have a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, game development, physics, mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Have 8+ years of professional software development experience in game‑engine systems, real‑time simulation, visualization, interactive tools, engine development, graphics, distributed systems, robotics, extended reality, or related performance‑sensitive software.
• Have significant experience developing clear and maintainable, high‑performance C++ software for real‑time, interactive, simulation, engine, or other performance‑sensitive applications.
• Have experience designing software architectures for complex technical systems such as game engines, simulation systems, distributed applications, visualization platforms, interactive tools, robotics systems, or other real‑time software platforms.
• Have deep experience in one or more systems programming areas such as memory management, multithreading, job systems, streaming, serialization, networking, platform abstraction, resource management, rendering integration, physics integration, tools, build systems, data pipelines, or large‑scale C++ architecture.
• Have experience leading technical efforts, mentoring engineers, reviewing designs, communicating technical tradeoffs, and helping teams converge on practical, maintainable solutions.
• Are willing and able to travel occasionally for meetings, demonstrations, integration events, or partner engagements.
• Are able to obtain Interim Secret level security clearance by your start date and can ultimately obtain Secret level clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

You will go above and beyond our minimum requirements if you:

• Have senior or staff‑level experience as a systems programmer, engine programmer, platform programmer,…