Game Programmer Jobs in Santa Ana, CA (NOW HIRING)

At Gardens Interactive, we're building games centered on connection, collective adventure, and emergent stories. We believe the spirit with which we build games is reflected in the experiences our players have. The way we collaborate, solve problems, navigate uncertainty, and care for one another ultimately shapes the worlds we create. We're creating magical, shared experiences that bring players together, and we know those experiences come from teams that are curious, resilient, ambitious, and deeply committed to one another.

We're a fully remote studio that embraces collaboration, thoughtful iteration, and the courage to explore new ideas. If you enjoy solving difficult problems with kind, talented teammates and want to help build worlds where friendships flourish, we'd love to meet you.

As our Lead Game Engineer, you will...

Team Leadership

• Manage, mentor, and grow a team of game engineers: set goals, run 1:1s, give feedback, and support career development.

• Plan, recruit, and interview technical roles within the Gameplay Engineering team.

• Own team processes: planning, code review standards, on-call/bug triage, and how work gets scoped and estimated.

• Create a healthy, high-trust engineering culture at a small-studio scale.

Hands-on Development

• Review pull requests and unblock engineers on hard technical problems.

• Debug and resolve complex cross-system issues, especially around multiplayer sync, performance, and stability.

• Prototype or build out gameplay systems directly when the team needs an extra pair of hands.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with game design, art, and production to scope features and keep engineering aligned with the creative vision.

• Partner with the Technical Director to create a realistic technical roadmap.

• Communicate engineering status, risks, and trade-offs clearly to studio leadership.

What You'll Bring

• 6+ years of professional game development experience, with shipped title(s) built in Unreal Engine.

• 2+ years of experience directly managing or leading engineers (formal management, tech lead, or team lead experience).

• Strong C++ skills and deep familiarity with Blueprint workflows.

• Hands-on experience with online multiplayer systems, including replication, client-server architecture, netcode, and the performance/debugging challenges that come with them.

• Solid grasp of software architecture and design patterns, and the judgment to know when to apply them versus keep things simple.

• Experience working cross-functionally with design, art, and production in a real production environment.

• Comfortable operating with high ownership in a lean team where you wear multiple hats.

• Strong communication skills: able to explain technical trade-offs to non-engineers and rally a small team around a plan.

Nice to Have

• Experience shipping a live-service or online multiplayer game post-launch (patching, live ops, backend services).

• Experience at an independent or mid-size studio.

• Experience with performance profiling and optimization.

The Team

• Reports to the Technical Director.

• Leads the Gameplay Engineering team.

• Partners closely with the Backend Lead, Technical Director, Production, Design, Art, QA, and the broader engineering organization

How We Work

We believe great games are built by people who care deeply about both the work and one another. Our values guide how we collaborate, solve problems, make decisions, and grow together. They're practical behaviors, not slogans, and they're part of how we hire, give feedback, and support one another every day.

We're looking for teammates who are excited to:

• Stay curious and ask thoughtful questions.

• Adapt when plans change.

• Exercise good judgment rather than chase perfection.

• Care for the success of the whole team, not just their own work.

• Pursue ambitious goals while remaining humble enough to keep learning.

• Commit fully to the shared adventure we're building together.

You'll Thrive Here If...

• You enjoy asking questions before jumping to conclusions.

• You adapt comfortably when priorities evolve.

• You balance ambition with pragmatism.

• You communicate thoughtfully and seek feedback.

• You care about helping your teammates succeed.

• You embrace uncertainty as part of creating something new.

Please Note: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada. Gardens cannot assist with work authorizations or work visas. Applicants must also be willing to work within North American time zones (EST–PST).

Our Interview Process

(all interviews are 1 hour video calls on Google Meet unless otherwise noted)

• Step 1: People Operations Introduction

• Step 2: Hiring Manager Interview

• Step 3: Panel Interview (3 - 1 Hour Sections)

• Step 4: Gardeners Debrief

• Step 5: Offer

Life at Gardens

Gardens is a fully distributed game studio founded by creators behind titles including Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Blaseball, Dustforce, Ashen, Guild Wars 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more.

We're developing our flagship project: a multiplayer fantasy adventure inspired by the friendships, discoveries, and unforgettable stories that emerge when people explore together.

We believe the best ideas come from teams with diverse experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, and ways of thinking. Every Gardener helps shape not only what we build, but how we build it.

Each of us arrives by a different path, bringing unique experiences, perspectives, and ways of seeing the world. That range is part of what makes our games and our studio better than any one of us could build alone.

Gardens Offers:

• Competitive salaries and pay transparency

• Stock options

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage (100% for individuals, 90% for dependents)

• Life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, and additional benefits

• 401(k) contributions (U.S.) / RRSP + DPSP contributions (Canada)

• Paid parental leave

• A fully distributed remote studio across North American time zones

Benefits and perks listed may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Gardens and the country in which you work.

Physical Requirements: This is a primarily sedentary, remote role requiring the ability to remain stationary and perform computer-based work for extended periods, including sustained use of monitors, keyboards, mice, and game controllers for a minimum of six hours per day. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role. Gardens is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Encouragement: We believe that diverse perspectives make our team stronger and our games better. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every single qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Research consistently shows that talented people, particularly women, people of color, and those from historically underrepresented communities are less likely to apply unless they meet every listed requirement. We care far more about curiosity, growth, and a willingness to learn than checking every box.

Scam Note: Unfortunately, scammers have impersonated Gardens Interactive by offering fake employment opportunities intended to collect financial information.

Official communication from our team will always come from a @gardens.dev email address. We will never ask for financial information during the hiring process.

If you're ever unsure whether a message is legitimate, please contact us directly through LinkedIn or careers@gardens.dev

Compensation Range: $198K - $219K