Electronic Arts

About Respawn Entertainment

Founded in 2010 by the original creators of the Call of Duty Franchise, Respawn was created with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom, they'll make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. From our roots as an indie studio to joining the expansive roster of studios at Electronic Arts, this remains our guiding principle. We truly love what we do and want to share our passion with players worldwide. Our shipped titles include critically acclaimed multi-platform games Apex Legends, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Star Wars™ Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars™ Jedi: Survivor and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Join us for the opportunity to create groundbreaking games with some of the best developer talent in the industry.

Role Overview

As a Technical Lead on our Foundations team, you will drive the evolution of the low-level, performance-critical systems at the core of Apex Legends’ game engine, including CPU performance, memory management, load times, platform support, script compilers, and audio. You will lead a team of senior, versatile engineers, taking ownership of building technical roadmaps and tackling the most complex and impactful engine challenges across diverse domains. In a fast-paced environment with frequent updates, you will carefully plan major technical changes to ensure a stable, shippable codebase. Your role will require exceptional problem-solving, technical expertise, and collaborative leadership to simplify and enhance a mature, complex codebase,  delivering seamless player experiences worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 7 senior, jack-of-all-trades engineers, fostering a collaborative, solutions-focused environment.

• Plan and execute large-scale technical changes, ensuring a stable, shippable codebase in a fast-moving environment with frequent updates to millions of players.

• Tackle complex, cross-domain challenges in areas like build processes, multithreading, CPU optimizations, and script compilers, diving into unfamiliar code with speed and precision.

• Deeply analyze existing systems to understand their design and constraints, forming a thoughtful vision for simplifying and improving our custom engine.

• Establish and uphold high quality technical standards, championing process improvements to ensure robust, efficient, and maintainable code.

• Develop and own long-term staffing plans and technical roadmaps, aligning with the broader engine team’s goals.

• Mentor engineers at all levels through code reviews, architectural discussions, and hands-on guidance, promoting technical excellence and collaborative problem-solving.

• Architect, implement, and maintain low-level engine systems using C++, ensuring their reliability, scalability, and performance.

• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary engineers to resolve complex architectural challenges, proposing and implementing practical and innovative solutions.

• Optimize critical systems across memory, CPU, and streaming pipelines, proactively addressing performance bottlenecks to deliver seamless player experiences.

• Lead cross-platform development, owning hardware-specific solutions and ensuring compatibility across Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo platforms.

• Debug and resolve complex engine issues in large-scale game environments, taking initiative to uncover and fix critical bugs.

• Work with partners (e.g., EA Central Tech, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) to evaluate and integrate their technology into Apex Legends’ custom engine.

Requirements

• Passion for creating and playing games, with a drive to improve core game engine systems.

• Technical Expertise: Expertise in C/C++, software architecture, systems-level programming, and optimizing code, data, and bandwidth for performance and memory efficiency.

• Versatility: Comfort working across diverse technical areas, including build processes, multithreading, CPU optimizations, and script compilers, with the ability to quickly adapt to unfamiliar codebases.

• Experience: 10+ years in game development, 5+ years with engine architecture, low-level systems, memory management, concurrency, and multi-threading, plus 3+ years in a technical leadership role where you owned significant technical outcomes.

• Leadership: Proven ability to lead experienced, versatile engineers, with excellent communication and collaboration skills to align teams around a shared vision.

• Platform and Tools: Experience with AAA game engines, large codebases, console development (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo), Windows, Perforce, Visual Studio, and shipping at least one AAA title.

• Skills: Mastery of debugging, performance optimization using first-party/proprietary profilers, and a solutions-focused approach to cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Bonus 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Mathematics, experience with PS5/Xbox Series S/X, multiplayer AAA game development, or Linux debugging.

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

In British Columbia, 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 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.