Gameplay AI Programmer

Salary: £50,000 - 90,000 per year

Requirements

• Proven experience in AI programming for games.
• Experience with Unreal Engine 4 or 5 AI systems, with Behaviour Trees, State Trees, and Perception strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of UE replication patterns, including Server/Client and Peer-to-Peer, is desired.
• An eye for realistic opponent behaviour and the ability to discuss with designers and animators what makes a fight feel authentic.
• Strong understanding of underlying Unreal Engine structures and techniques.
• Solid understanding of software architecture and engineering best practices.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.
• Self-driven with a proactive mindset and attention to detail.
• Genuine passion for games and game development.
• Experience in combat, fighting, or sports titles is a big bonus.
• Familiarity with multiplayer AI considerations, such as determinism for rollback and match replays, is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain our AI systems using UEs native tools, such as State Trees, Blackboards, and Perception systems, and extend them when needed.
• Create believable boxing opponents with advanced decision-making for attack, defence, ring movement, stamina management, and adaptive strategies.
• Integrate AI systems with the existing controls of our game to provide a balanced, responsive, and controlled challenge.
• Collaborate with designers to define, implement, and refine AI designs into manageable tools and reliable outcomes.
• Collaborate with the Gameplay, Tools, and Networking teams to ensure seamless integration with animation, physics, networking, and replay functionalities.
• Optimize and balance AI systems to deliver reactive, efficient, and fair opponents across difficulty levels and game modes.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues related to AI systems.
• Prototype new design ideas with the design team to prove the value of possible updates.
• Contribute to code reviews, best practices, and documentation for the combat and gameplay teams.
• Stay current with Unreal Engine updates and emerging technologies in Character and AI Control, such as Behaviour and State Trees, Mover 2.0, and Motion Matching.

Technologies

• AI
• Unreal
• GameDev
• Support

More

We are Steel City Interactive, the team behind Undisputed, the first major boxing video game in over a decade. Born from a passion for video games and boxing, we are focused on creating an authentic and exciting boxing game that does justice to the sport we love. We value expression and open communication, and we are a diverse team made up of experienced industry professionals, graduates, and talented people from other industries who learn from one another. This role can be based onsite at one of our two offices in Sheffield or Leamington Spa, hybrid, or fully remote. We offer a healthy work-life balance with 23 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing by 1 day per year of service up to 30 days, a Christmas shutdown, a holiday exchange programme, flexible working hours and patterns, enhanced maternity and paternity pay, private healthcare including optical and dental, a friendly office environment with free snacks, fruit and drinks, free parking at our Sheffield site, company sick pay, wellbeing days, access to 24/7 doctors, an employee assistance programme, learning days, a technology scheme, relocation benefits, an electric car vehicle scheme, a discretionary bonus, wrap parties, company-paid outings, and an individual entertainment budget for team events. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse team and welcome all applications.

last updated 37 week of 2026