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Gameplay Programmer Jobs in Atlanta, GA (NOW HIRING)

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Video Game Design Tutor

Duluth, GA · Remote

$18 - $40/hr

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Guides students through designing game mechanics documents, building levels in game engines, programming player interactions, creating or integrating art assets, and conducting playtesting sessions.

Software Development Manager

Alpharetta, GA · On-site

$120K - $159K/yr

Scientific Games: Scientific Games is the global leader in lottery games, sports betting and ... Ensure developers deliver quality work as scheduled in accordance with technical design and product ...

Showing results 21-40

Gameplay Programmer information

See Atlanta, GA salary details

$92.8K

$130K

$138K

How much do gameplay programmer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for gameplay programmer in Atlanta, GA is $130,047.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $124,100.00 and $137,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Gameplay Programmer vs Game Developer?

AspectGameplay ProgrammerGame Developer
Primary FocusImplementing gameplay features, mechanics, and systemsDesigning, developing, and managing entire game projects
Skills & CredentialsProgramming skills, understanding of game engines, scriptingProgramming, design, project management, often with broader skill set
Work EnvironmentTypically within a development team, focused on coding and implementationVaries from coding to design, often in larger teams or studios

While both roles involve programming, Gameplay Programmers specialize in creating and implementing gameplay mechanics, whereas Game Developers oversee broader aspects of game creation, including design and project management. Understanding these differences helps clarify career paths and employer expectations in the gaming industry.

What is a gameplay programmer?

A gameplay programmer helps develop, document, test, and debug online or mobile game systems. Responsibilities include writing code with scripting languages such as C++, JavaScript, HTML, and Python; looking for ways to modify code; implementing functionalities such as controls, AI, and NPC behaviors within an established framework; and fixing design issues. They must communicate and work closely with other programmers to provide technical and creative feedback and meet project goals. Qualifications to become a gameplay programmer include a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or a similar field and fluency in programming languages.

What does a gameplay programmer do?

A Gameplay Programmer is responsible for implementing the interactive elements of a video game, such as character controls, game rules, and mechanics. They work closely with designers and artists to turn creative concepts into playable features, ensuring that gameplay is both fun and functional. Their tasks often include writing code for player actions, AI behavior, and in-game systems, as well as debugging and optimizing game performance. Gameplay Programmers play a crucial role in shaping the overall experience and feel of a game.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a gameplay programmer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Gameplay Programmer, you need a strong background in computer science, proficiency in programming languages like C++ or C#, and experience with game engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine. Familiarity with version control systems, debugging tools, and, in some cases, relevant certifications in game development is also valuable. Creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving are crucial soft skills for collaborating with designers and artists to bring game mechanics to life. These skills ensure the creation of engaging, efficient, and high-quality gameplay experiences that meet both technical and creative goals.

How does a gameplay programmer typically collaborate with designers and artists during game development?

Gameplay programmers work closely with designers to translate creative concepts into interactive mechanics, implementing features such as controls, rules, and character abilities. They also collaborate with artists to ensure animations, visual effects, and assets integrate smoothly with the codebase. Regular communication, prototyping, and iterative testing are crucial, as gameplay programmers often participate in multidisciplinary meetings and provide technical feedback to refine the player experience. This dynamic teamwork helps ensure that gameplay elements are both fun and technically feasible.
What are popular job titles related to Gameplay Programmer jobs in Atlanta, GA? For Gameplay Programmer jobs in Atlanta, GA, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Gameplay Programmer jobs in Atlanta, GA look for? The top searched job categories for Gameplay Programmer jobs in Atlanta, GA are:
What cities near Atlanta, GA are hiring for Gameplay Programmer jobs? Cities near Atlanta, GA with the most Gameplay Programmer job openings:
    Infographic showing various Gameplay Programmer job openings in Atlanta, GA as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 55% Full Time, 19% Part Time, 11% Temporary, and 15% Contract. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $130,047 per year, or $62.5 per hour.

    VP, Product Engineering (Software)

    Scientific Games

    Alpharetta, GA • On-site

    Full-time

    Re-posted 27 days ago


    Scientific Games rating

    8.3

    Company rating: 8.3 out of 10

    Based on 25 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

    5th of 15 rated gambling companies


    Job description

    Scientific Games:

    Scientific Games is the global leader in lottery games, sports betting and technology, and the partner of choice for government lotteries. From cutting-edge backend systems to exciting entertainment experiences and trailblazing retail and digital solutions, we elevate play every day. We push game designs to the next level and are pioneers in data analytics and iLottery. Built on a foundation of trusted partnerships, Scientific Games combines relentless innovation, legendary performance, and unwavering security to responsibly propel the global lottery industry ever forward.

    Position Summary

    Scientific Games is seeking a VP, Product Engineering to lead a small, high-impact team focused on building new products and advancing strategic business opportunities. This leader will tackle ambiguous problems, partner closely with product and business stakeholders, and deliver high-quality software quickly-without compromising platform stability.

    This is a hands-on builder-leader role, responsible for driving the full product engineering lifecycle-from shaping ideas to delivering production-ready solutions. The team will operate as a lean, senior group leveraging modern AI-assisted development practices to move fast, maintain quality, and continuously improve the systems they touch.

    Success in this role means balancing speed and discipline-shipping impactful solutions, enhancing legacy systems, and establishing scalable, AI-driven engineering practices that can influence the broader organization.

    What This Person Will Own

    • Building new products, capabilities, prototypes, and production systems from zero to one.

    • Moving quickly and safely inside existing legacy codebases and platforms.

    • Helping decide which opportunities deserve engineering investment.

    • Creating an AI-first software delivery model based on clear specifications, acceptance criteria, automated tests, fast feedback, and low cycle time.

    • Using current AI development tools and emerging agentic workflows to generate code, write and improve tests, explore legacy systems, document behavior, accelerate migrations, support review, and reduce manual toil.

    • Establishing specification-driven development, test-driven development, acceptance-test-driven development, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, release discipline, security review, and production ownership as the foundation for speed.

    • Building a small, high-performance team with a strong bar for technical judgment, product judgment, learning speed, and follow-through.

    • Modeling agentic AI development patterns that can influence engineering practice across SG.

    Qualifications

    What Success Looks Like

    This person will lead a team that turns ambiguity into working software quickly and safely. The team operates close to the customer and uses AI effectively to accelerate delivery-while maintaining strong engineering fundamentals.

    Key Responsibilities

    • Lead product engineering for strategic new business opportunities, from problem framing through prototype, validation, production readiness, and scale.

    • Partner with product and business leaders to decide what is worth building, what should be built first, and how success will be measured.

    • Build and lead a small, high-performance engineering team with strong technical judgment, product judgment, ownership, and learning speed.

    • Establish an AI-first development model grounded in clear specs, TDD / ATDD, automated testing, fast feedback loops, CI/CD, observability, and production-safe release practices.

    • Move quickly inside legacy systems while improving the parts of the platform the team touches: cleaner interfaces, better tests, stronger automation, and less future drag.

    • Model a faster, safer product engineering motion for SG by showing how AI-assisted development, strong specs, strong tests, and low cycle time can work together at enterprise scale.

    Experience That Fits

    • 12+ years of experience across software engineering, product engineering, platform engineering, or technical product development

    • 5+ years leading high-performing engineering teams or technical pods

    • Proven track record of building and delivering real software in fast-paced, high-ownership environments

    • Experience operating effectively within large, complex systems, including legacy platforms

    • Strong understanding of customer commitments, security, compliance, and production reliability requirements

    Required Experience Includes:

    • Leading end-to-end product engineering: problem framing, technical design, implementation, testing, release, production operation, and iteration.

    • Building new products, platforms, or capabilities from early ambiguity to production use.

    • Working in or around legacy systems while improving architecture, testability, operability, and delivery speed.

    • Using modern AI-assisted software development practices, including coding assistants, agentic workflows, AI-assisted code generation and review, test generation, documentation support, migration support, and workflow automation.

    • Practicing specification-driven development: clear intent, acceptance criteria, interface contracts, examples, non-functional requirements, and release criteria.

    • Building strong automated testing systems, including TDD, ATDD, unit testing, integration testing, contract testing, regression automation, performance testing, and production validation.

    Useful Additional Experience Includes:

    • Lottery, gaming, payments, regulated transactional systems, or other high-reliability customer-facing platform experience.

    • Polyglot environments with multiple languages, platforms, deployment models, and legacy architectures.

    • Cloud-native development, platform engineering, infrastructure as code, containerized workloads, APIs, event-driven systems, and distributed systems.

    • Test automation across unit, integration, contract, regression, performance, and end-to-end testing


    Work Conditions

    Scientific Games, LLC and its affiliates (collectively, "SG") are engaged in highly regulated gaming and lottery businesses. As a result, certain SG employees may, among other things, be required to obtain a gaming or other license(s), undergo background investigations or security checks, or meet certain standards dictated by law, regulation or contracts. In order to ensure SG complies with its regulatory and contractual commitments, as a condition to hiring and continuing to employ its employees, SG requires all of its employees to meet those requirements that are necessary to fulfill their individual roles. As a prerequisite to employment with SG (to the extent permitted by law), you shall be asked to consent to SG conducting a due diligence/background investigation on you.
    This job description should not be interpreted as all-inclusive; it is intended to identify major responsibilities and requirements of the job. The employee in this position may be requested to perform other job-related tasks and responsibilities than those stated above.

    SG is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants due to race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. If you'd like more information about your equal employment opportunity rights as an applicant under the law, please click here for EEOC Poster.


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