Lead Software Engineer

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.

In 2022, we announced that our studio is implementing a four-day work week as well as supporting in-studio, remote within Canada, and hybrid work arrangements as permanent options to our employees.

Location: Canada - Remote-friendly (min 50% Pacific-time overlap required) ·

Employment type: Four-day work week (32 hrs), full-time permanent.

About the role:

You’ll set technical direction for a high-profile remaster of a beloved RTS. You’ll lead modernization and polish across core gameplay and systems, champion quality-of-life improvements, and raise the technical bar across a large-scale RTS codebase: owning pillars end-to-end and partnering closely with design and art.

What you’ll lead:

• Technical direction & architecture for data-driven, multithreaded gameplay systems within a mature proprietary engine; define standards, patterns, and reviews that scale across PC.
• New modes & live-ops delivery — lead prototyping through launch and iteration of multiplayer experiences and post-launch systems in modern C++.
• Quality-of-life upgrades — champion UX/onboarding improvements, eliminate long-standing issues, and strengthen mod-support pipelines.
• Simulation & AI — guide work on deterministic simulation, path-finding, combat logic, and unit behaviours to deliver tight, tactical play.
• Performance & stability — enforce budgets, profile and optimise to hit 60 fps during 1,000-unit battles, improve load times, and expand automated test coverage.
• Cross-disciplinary collaboration — sync with design, art, animation, and audio; run playtests and turn feedback into shippable features.
• People leadership — mentor and grow engineers via pairing, coaching, and actionable reviews; foster best practices and support career development.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years building and shipping games in modern C++ within large codebases; proven ownership of complex gameplay systems.
• Shipped multiple commercial titles or substantial live-ops updates with notable gameplay contributions.
• Strength in data-driven design, rapid iteration, and balancing creative intent with technical realities.
• Excellent cross-discipline communication; gives and receives constructive code feedback.
• Comfortable with Perforce/Git and modern debugging/profiling tooling; advocates for automation and quality.

Nice to have:

• RTS or large-scale simulation experience (AI, pathfinding, deterministic sims).
• Engine-level systems, networking for multiplayer, and content-pipeline/tools experience.

$125,000 - $160,000 a year