Job Description
At Hypersonic Laboratories, we're looking for a Lead of Engineering to take technical ownership of HELIX, our in-house open-world multiplayer game creation framework.
The role is hybrid, involving 2 days a week at our Guildford, UK studio.
Who are we?
Hypersonic Laboratories is building HELIX, the ultimate open-world multiplayer sandbox. We are a diverse, experienced, international team and have raised $11M from top gaming VCs.
About the role
We’re seeking an experienced, product-focused technical leader to take charge of the technical vision and execution of HELIX. You’ll operate as a founding engineer or technical cofounder, helping scale our modular, multiplayer-first sandbox framework built on Unreal Engine 5 .
This is a hands-on leadership position: you’ll be actively coding while also working closely with production to manage a small core team of engineers and scripters, guiding the development process, and ensuring our systems meet the scale and ambition of our platform.
The ideal candidate would have 10+ years of experience and at least 3 shipped Unreal Engine titles, deep Unreal expertise (including networking, plugins, and tools), and a passion for building powerful and extensible systems. You’ll work directly with leadership to ensure HELIX ships on time, on spec, and with excellence.
What you will be doing
* Acting as technical owner of HELIX, setting the direction and standards across all technical systems.
* Leading and mentoring the engineering team, providing code reviews, technical guidance, and architectural oversight.
* Contributing code daily—this is a hands-on leadership role.
* Overseeing and implementing systems across gameplay, networking, tooling, UI, online services, backend, and DevOps.
* Collaborating with other departments (gameplay, art, production) to ensure engine features meet evolving needs.
* Spearheading the adoption of AI/ML-driven workflows and tooling across the engineering org.
* Recruiting, onboarding, and mentoring technical team members.
* Maintaining a high level of responsiveness, adaptability, and technical excellence in a fast-paced environment.
* Championing engineering culture, team cohesion, and sustainable development practices.
* Supporting with hiring to grow the engineering team according to project needs and studio values.
What we will need from you
* 10+ years of professional experience as a game/engine programmer, including technical leadership on shipped titles or platforms.
* At least 3 shipped titles built with Unreal Engine .
* Deep expertise in Unreal Engine —including networking, gameplay systems, Lyra framework, motion matching, custom plugins/tools, and engine extensions.
* Proven experience building and scaling engineering teams.
* Strong background in gameplay programming, multiplayer architecture, and online subsystem integrations (e.g. EOS, Steam, etc).
* Competence in backend systems, scalable services, and DevOps pipelines.
* Proficiency in CI/CD, debugging, and performance optimization.
* Familiarity with web technologies (HTML/CSS/JS) for platform or dashboard/launcher related features.
* Passion for empowering creators through extensibility, modularity, and clean systems architecture.
Nice to have
* Experience with UGC platforms, modding frameworks, or live service ecosystems.
* Experience building or contributing to game development tools for teams or communities.
* Previous work in fast-moving startup or small team environments.
Value alignment
* You thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments where efficiency, agility, and a strong team culture lead to significant and meaningful impact.
* You enjoy working closely with other disciplines, wearing multiple hats, and iterating quickly.
* You’re excited by ambitious creative tools and believe in enabling others through technology .
Apply for the job
Ready to join our team as our new Engineering Lead? Then we'd love to hear from you!