Combat Designer (Unreal Engine)

Location: Remote within the UK or based in the West Midlands. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Company

hirify.global is a game development studio based just outside Birmingham, building games with a collaborative and supportive team.

What you will do

• Design, prototype, and iterate on enemy AI, combat behaviours, encounter systems, and core combat mechanics.
• Lead the design and implementation of boss battles, including behaviours, attack patterns, phases, vulnerabilities, difficulty progression, and player counterplay.
• Implement AI systems covering navigation, targeting, positioning, attack selection, group behaviours, reactions, state changes, and combat decision-making.
• Collaborate with engineering, animation, VFX, audio, narrative, and level design teams to take encounters from concept through implementation and final polish.
• Design combat spaces, enemy archetypes, enemy placement, reinforcement behaviours, arena layouts, and encounter composition.
• Use player feedback, telemetry, and playtest data to tune enemy behaviours, boss difficulty, damage models, attack timings, pacing, and combat balance.

Requirements

• Proven experience designing and implementing enemy AI, combat encounters, or boss battles on at least one published title.
• Strong practical understanding of game AI and enemy behaviour design, including behaviour and state systems, targeting, navigation, positioning, attack selection, reactions, and combat decision-making.
• Hands-on familiarity with Unreal Engine and gameplay implementation through Blueprints.
• Deep understanding of combat mechanics across first-person shooters, first-person melee, and third-person action games.
• Ability to rapidly prototype AI behaviours and encounters and take them through iteration, tuning, and polish.
• Strong communication, collaboration, attention to detail, and commitment to polished combat experiences.

Nice to have

• Experience owning or significantly contributing to major boss battles or set-piece combat encounters.
• Experience developing AI frameworks, behaviour trees, state machines, utility systems, encounter managers, or similar gameplay systems.
• Experience with Unreal Engine Behaviour Trees, EQS, Blueprints, AI Perception, or equivalent AI systems.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary enemy and boss design and current gameplay AI practices.

Culture & Benefits

• Friendly and nurturing work environment based just outside Birmingham.
• Opportunity to build games within an ambitious studio.
• Welcoming, passionate, and active gaming team.
• Supportive and collaborative development culture.
• Remote work from within the UK is supported.

Hiring process

• Submit a CV, portfolio, and optional cover letter.
• Portfolio samples from previous studios must be cleared for release by the copyright owners.