** This is a hybrid position that requires residency in California, even during remote work periods. **
About the company:
Located in Redondo Beach, CA, GungHo Online Entertainment America Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese game company GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. Publishing titles across multiple platforms ranging from console to handheld and mobile, our group is comprised of veterans from various aspects of the industry brought together by one simple thing: a love of gaming.
Position Summary:
This position is responsible for owning the design, finetuning, and shipping of machine learning and generative AI features for our new, internally developed game, as well as setting technical direction and mentoring other engineers. You'll work at the intersection of applied ML and game development, and help define how AI shows up in our titles.
What you’ll be doing:
- Own the design, implementation, and debugging of ML/AI-driven features for our internally developed game, with a focus on LLM-powered NPC dialogue and model infrastructure.
- Finetune, evaluate, and optimize models for in-game use, balancing quality against latency, memory, and cost.
- Architect and maintain inference systems and data pipelines that integrate cleanly with the game engine and runtime.
- Contribute to gameplay features and general game code alongside your ML work. This is a hands-on role on both sides.
- Drive other generative AI features as the game evolves, scoping ambiguous problems into shippable work.
- Partner with artists, game designers, and gameplay engineers to shape AI features, and help align them across teams.
- Mentor engineers, review code and designs, and raise the technical bar of the team.
- Test prototypes of future titles and AI systems to provide constructive feedback.
- Attend industry conventions and live events as needed.
Qualifications / desired experience:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science or related technical discipline
- 7+ years of video game development and product delivery experience is a plus
- Significant professional experience building and shipping ML/AI systems, including finetuning or deploying models in production.
- C++ and game-engine experience (Unreal) is a huge plus.
- A track record of owning features end to end and making sound technical tradeoffs under real constraints (latency, memory, cost).
- Solid general programming proficiency; deeply comfortable working in and improving a large production codebase.
- No specific stack required. We care more about what you've actually built than which tools you used.
- Experience deploying models for low-latency, real-time inference.
- Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical direction on a team.
- Familiarity with 3D graphics, shaders, or GPU programming is a plus.
- Strong communication skills, including across disciplines.
- Passion for narrative games.
Why you want to work here:
At GungHo, we’re enthusiastic about creating fun games and we’re always looking for talented individuals with whom we can share our passion. We have a highly collaborative culture where everyone wants to work together to get things done!
Perks:
- 100% employer-paid insurances: Health Insurance (PPO Medical, Dental, and Vision), Life Insurance, Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance, and Long Term Disability Insurance
- 401(k) with employer match
- Competitive paid time off: Vacation, Personal time, Sick Leave, Holidays, and Winter Breaks.
- An incentive may be provided based on business performance.
Business Hours: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM in Pacific Time
Salary Range: $120,000 - $150,000 per year (DOE)
Note: Only applications submitted through the online system or formally referred by the designated recruiter will be deemed official and accepted. Any resumes submitted through alternative channels will not be recognized as valid applications.
