Senior AI Game Designer - American Football

Description & Requirements

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

Location: Orlando, FL or Victoria, BC (Hybrid onsite)

Description EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling video game franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports video games, including Madden NFL football, FC Soccer, NHL hockey, and EA SPORTS UFC.

We're building an exciting new American Football title and are looking for a Senior AI Technical Designer to help create intelligent, authentic, and engaging gameplay experiences.

Reporting to a Game Design Director, you will work at the intersection of game design and engineering. You'll build and tune gameplay AI that brings players, teams, and football strategy to life. You'll collaborate with gameplay engineers, designers, animators, artists, and producers to deliver responsive, believable AI that enhances every moment on the field.

• Design, implement, and tune gameplay AI using modern game engine AI systems, with a preference for experience in Unreal Engine including Behavior Trees, Blackboards, AI Perception, Navigation, Environmental Query System (EQS), and Blueprint scripting.
• Build decision‑making systems using traditional game AI techniques such as Behavior Trees, State Machines, Decision Trees, Utility AI, and other data‑driven gameplay systems.
• Partner with Gameplay Engineers and Designers to create authentic football behaviors gameplay.
• Tune AI behaviors through play testing, gameplay telemetry, and iterative balancing to deliver engaging and competitive gameplay.
• Debug, optimize, and refine AI systems while helping improve designer workflows and development tools.
• Collaborate across gameplay, animation, engineering, art, and production to deliver high‑quality gameplay features.

• 5+ years of experience developing gameplay AI for shipped console or PC games.
• Experience building gameplay AI systems using a modern game engine such as Unreal Engine, Frostbite, Unity, or a proprietary engine.
• Experience with Unreal Engine 5 strongly desired
• Strong understanding of traditional game AI techniques including Behavior Trees, Blackboards, State Machines, Decision Trees, Utility AI, or similar gameplay AI architectures.
• Experience implementing navigation, pathfinding, perception, and tactical decision‑making systems.
• Strong problem‑solving, debugging, and gameplay tuning skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills within multidisciplinary development teams.

• Experience shipping games developed in Unreal Engine 5.
• Experience developing sports games or team‑based gameplay systems.
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine Gameplay Ability System (GAS).
• Experience using Blueprint and working alongside C++ gameplay engineers.
• Experience creating AI debugging, visualization, or authoring tools.
• Knowledge of American football strategy, formations, player responsibilities, or sports simulation gameplay.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs).

PAY RANGES

Pay is just one part of the overall compensation at EA.

For Canada, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top‑up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4…