E

Epic Games

Develops games and Unreal Engine tools

Principal Research Engineer - Unreal Assistant

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
No salary listed
Expert
Bachelor's, Master's
Cary, NC, USA
In Person
Software EngineeringAI Application Engineering

About the job

Requirements
  • Strong programming background with hands-on experience in a game engine, with Unreal Engine strongly preferred, including engine architecture and tooling/editor scripting.
  • Practical experience building or shipping products powered by large language models (agents, tool-calling, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt/context engineering), or a strong conceptual understanding of how large language models work.
  • Experience with cloud-native services and infrastructure, including web application programming interfaces, databases, service architecture, and deployment.
  • Excellent programming skills across C++ for engine-side work and Python and/or a web backend language.
  • Experience in the games industry or equivalent, developing interactive entertainment products.
  • Ability to work full-stack and reason about tradeoffs across engine code, backend services, and a web front end.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • A Bachelor of Science or Master of Science in Computer Science or a related field.
Responsibilities
  • Design and build large language model-driven agents and tools that operate directly inside Unreal Engine, including engine-side C++/Python tooling and editor scripting.
  • Architect and extend the cloud-hosted agent harness, services, and database that mediate between large language models and the engine.
  • Work across the full stack, including engine tooling, cloud backend, and the web user interface used to drive and monitor agents, to ship end-to-end features.
  • Evaluate and integrate emerging large language model capabilities, including tool use, multi-agent orchestration, and context management, into Epic's engine and pipeline tooling.
  • Define technical direction for the reliability, safety, and evaluation of large language model-driven engine automation.
  • Partner closely with engine, tools, and backend engineers, and mentor others on game engine internals and large language model system design.
Desired Qualifications
  • Unreal Engine experience is strongly preferred.

About the company

Epic Games develops and publishes popular video games and provides development tools and online services for other studios. It creates games like Fortnite across multiple platforms and monetizes via game sales, in-game purchases, and Battle Pass subscriptions; it also licenses Unreal Engine to other developers and offers Epic Online Services for multiplayer and backend support. Epic Games differentiates itself by combining in-house game development with a widely used game engine and a built-in set of backend services, creating an integrated ecosystem for players and developers. Its goal is to entertain players with engaging games while helping other developers build, operate, and grow their own titles.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

Late Stage VC

Total Funding

$8.6B

Headquarters

Cary, North Carolina

Founded

1991

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Unreal Engine 5.8 launched June 17, 2026, and UE6 development is advancing.
  • Epic Games Store posted $400 million third-party PC spend in 2025, up 57%.
  • Fortnite returned to global App Stores on May 19, 2026, restoring mobile reach.

What critics are saying

  • March 24, 2026 layoffs cut over 1,000 staff after Fortnite engagement fell.
  • Stichting Massaschade & Consument filed a €100 million Dutch class action on September 2026.
  • Apple's Supreme Court appeal threatens Epic's store economics; a loss weakens its distribution fight.

What makes Epic Games unique

  • Unreal Engine 6 merges UEFN and UE5; Epic targets late-2027 early access.
  • Fortnite powers Epic's creator economy, paying UEFN creators over $1 billion since 2023.
  • Epic links EGS purchases to Fortnite cosmetics, turning commerce into gameplay distribution.

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Benefits

  • Health coverage - 100% of the premiums for both you and your dependents. Our coverage includes Medical, Dental, a Vision HRA, Long Term Disability, Life Insurance & a 401k with competitive match and profit share
  • Robust mental well-being programs & free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents
  • Unlimited PTO & sick time
  • Paid sabbatical

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

-1%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

1%
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Helpful Info For You
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