Senior Gameplay Programmer

Location: Berlin, Germany
Contract type: On-Payroll, Full-time (40h/week), fixed-term contract (with a strong possibility of extension or conversion to permanent employment based on performance and project requirements)
Expected Start Date: 01.09.2026
Please note we cannot support ​relocation for this role. 

The Senior Gameplay Programmer will handle day-to-day gameplay implementation on The Conformist, a 3D RPG built in Unity with systemic features running over an underlying simulation. The role covers the full breadth of 3D gameplay work — animation, characters, cameras, world interaction, and UI — and owns the practical side of getting art content into the game, working closely with 3D artists, technical artists, and animators to keep the pipeline running reliably in production. The Senior Gameplay Programmer will also implement the game's systemic features and AI behaviour, translate narrative and design intent into working gameplay, and build editor tooling that removes friction for the wider team. The role collaborates closely with design, narrative, and art to keep the game performant and stable throughout development.

Responsibilities

• Handle day-to-day gameplay implementation on The Conformist — a 3D RPG with systemic features running over an underlying simulation — covering whatever the project requires across systems, characters, cameras, world interaction, and UI.
• Own the practical side of getting 3D content into the game: integrating animations, setting up characters and environments, and making the art-to-Unity pipeline work reliably in production.
• Partner closely with 3D artists, technical artists, and animators to resolve pipeline and integration problems, and to shape workflows that keep content moving.
• Implement the game's systemic features, including turn structure, simulation rules, and the systems that connect strategic decisions to the moment-to-moment RPG experience.
• Build and tune AI behaviour, from opponent decision-making within the systemic features to NPC behaviour in the 3D world.
• Translate design and narrative intent into working gameplay, in collaboration with the design and narrative team.
• Implement game UI in Unity, working closely with UI designers to bring designs into the build.
• Build and maintain editor tooling where it removes friction for the team's artists, designers, and writers.
• Keep the game performant and stable on target hardware, profiling regularly throughout development and addressing bottlenecks as they appear rather than deferring them.
• Maintain code quality and maintainable technical practices within the project codebase.
• Contribute to technical documentation and knowledge sharing so pipelines remain accessible to the rest of the team.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

• 5+ years of professional programming experience in game development, with at least one to two shipped 3D titles.
• Strong proficiency with Unity and C#, including gameplay architecture, system design, and editor tooling.
• Working knowledge across the full breadth of 3D gameplay implementation in Unity: animation systems (Animator, state machines, blending, IK, retargeting), character controllers, navigation, cameras, scene composition, and asset streaming via Addressables.
• Practical experience with a DCC-to-Unity art pipeline (Blender, Maya, or equivalent) and the ability to work directly alongside 3D artists, technical artists, and animators — importing, configuring, and troubleshooting animated characters, props, and environments, with enough shared vocabulary to diagnose issues on both sides of the pipeline.
• Experience implementing narrative-driven gameplay, including dialogue presentation, state management, and data-driven content.
• Experience implementing strategy or simulation systems — turn structures, resource and economy models, and rule-driven mechanics running over an underlying simulation — that stay readable and debuggable as they grow.
• Experience implementing UI to spec and working fluently with UI designers, including translating visual designs into working, responsive interfaces.
• Strong optimization skills within fixed hardware budgets, including gamepad-first input, hands-on profiling of CPU, GPU, and memory, and driving measurable improvements rather than treating performance as an end-of-project pass.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience shipping to console platforms, including certification requirements and platform-specific constraints.
• Experience on narrative RPGs, immersive sims, or comparable story-led 3D projects.
• Experience implementing game AI and agent decision-making, whether opponent AI for strategy systems or NPC behaviour in a 3D world.
• Experience with utility AI, behaviour trees, GOAP, or comparable decision-making architectures.
• Familiarity with a Figma-to-Unity UI pipeline, or comparable design-handoff workflows.
• Familiarity with shader authoring, VFX, or technical art workflows.
• Experience with localization workflows in content-heavy projects.
• Experience building internal tools or editor extensions to support artists, designers, and writers.
• Experience with political, economic, or social simulation mechanics.
• Experience working in small teams with multiple concurrent projects.

Benefits

• Health & Wellbeing: Free Urban Sports Club membership (Berlin employees).
• Transport: Fully covered Deutschland-Ticket (Berlin employees).
• Flexible Hours: Start your day between 8:00 and 10:00 CET, with core working hours from 10:00 to 15:00 CET.
• Hybrid Work: Work 3 days in the office and 2 days remotely (Berlin employees).
• Work from Abroad: Up to 10 remote working days per year outside Germany (employees).
• Team Events: Regular team events and access to the NLND community network.
• Feedback & Growth: Regular feedback and development sessions.
• Annual Bonus: Performance-based bonus.
• Vacation: 24 paid vacation days per year (full-time employees).

Salary

Minimum: 50000
Maximum: 55000
Currency: EUR
Pay period: Annual