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Internship Game Developer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Xsolla

AI-First Engineering Intern

Los Angeles, CA

$20 - $25/hr

This isn't a shadow-and-observe internship. You'll ship code that goes to customers - internal teams or external players and game developers - working closely with senior engineers and fellow interns ...

Xsolla

AI-First Engineering Intern

Los Angeles, CA · On-site

$20 - $25/hr

This isn't a shadow-and-observe internship. You'll ship code that goes to customers - internal teams or external players and game developers - working closely with senior engineers and fellow interns ...

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Internship Game Developer information

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How much do internship game developer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 14, 2026, the average hourly pay for internship game developer in California is $22.59, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $18.27 and $23.94 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What types of projects or tasks can an internship game developer expect to work on?

As an Internship Game Developer, you may work on a variety of entry-level tasks such as prototyping gameplay features, fixing bugs, assisting with game testing, or creating assets under the supervision of experienced developers. Interns often rotate between tasks to gain exposure to different aspects of the game development process, including programming, design, and quality assurance. You will typically collaborate closely with other interns, full-time developers, artists, and designers, which helps build practical skills and understanding of team dynamics. This hands-on experience is designed to provide a well-rounded introduction to industry workflows and can help you build a strong professional portfolio for future career opportunities.

What is an internship game developer?

An Internship Game Developer job is a temporary position where aspiring game developers gain hands-on experience in the game development industry. Interns typically work with professional development teams, assisting in coding, game design, testing, or other creative aspects. They may use programming languages like C++ or Unity, contribute to gameplay mechanics, or help debug issues. This role allows interns to build a portfolio, expand their technical skills, and gain industry connections for future opportunities.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the internship game developer position, and why are they important?

To thrive as an Internship Game Developer, a strong foundation in programming languages (such as C++, C#, or Java), basic game design principles, and a relevant academic background are generally required. Familiarity with popular game engines like Unity or Unreal Engine, as well as version control systems (e.g., Git), is highly valuable, although formal certifications are rarely mandatory at the internship level. Creativity, problem-solving, enthusiasm for collaborative teamwork, and a willingness to learn are standout soft skills in this position. These skills and qualities are important because they enable interns to contribute effectively to real development projects while adapting quickly to industry workflows.

What are the most commonly searched types of Game Developer jobs in California?

The most popular types of Game Developer jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Internship Game Developer jobs in California?

For Internship Game Developer jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Internship Game Developer jobs in California look for?

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What cities in California are hiring for Internship Game Developer jobs?

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Internship Game Developer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Internship Game Developer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 10% Internship, 65% Full Time, 21% Part Time, 2% Temporary, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $46,997 per year, or $22.6 per hour.

AI-First Engineering Intern

Xsolla

Los Angeles, CA

$20 - $25/hr

Internship

Re-posted 6 days ago

Job description

ABOUT US
Xsolla is a global commerce company with robust tools and services to help developers solve the inherent challenges of the video game industry. From indie to AAA, companies partner with Xsolla to help them fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games. Grounded in the belief in the future of video games, Xsolla is resolute in the mission to bring opportunities together, and continually make new resources available to creators. Headquartered and incorporated in Los Angeles, California, Xsolla operates as the merchant of record and has helped over 1,500+ game developers to reach more players and grow their businesses around the world. With more paths to profits and ways to win, developers have all the things needed to enjoy the game.
For more information, visit xsolla.com.

Why This Role Exists

Xsolla is going all-in on becoming an AI-first company, and we're not waiting for a slow rollout to get there. We're offering AI Engineer Internships in regions across the globe to help drive that shift directly, not by sitting in the back office, but by building.

You'll work on two things:

  1. Internal AI initiatives - helping unlock AI tooling and integrations across Xsolla faster than our existing teams can alone.

  2. Proof-of-concept builds on our own APIs - showing our product and engineering teams what's possible when you build with AI as a core part of your workflow, not an afterthought.

This isn't a shadow-and-observe internship. You'll ship code that goes to customers - internal teams or external players and game developers - working closely with senior engineers and fellow interns across our global regions.

Who You'll Work With

You won't be isolated on an intern-only project island. You'll work closely with senior engineers who are actively rebuilding how we write software, and you'll be part of a global cohort of interns building in parallel across our regions. That combination is the point: senior engineers give you a bar for what production-grade, customer-facing code looks like, and your fellow interns give you a peer group to trade ideas, code, and AI workflows every week.

What You'll Do

  • Partner and collaborate with senior engineers to identify where AI tooling and integrations can remove friction, and build the fix.

  • Build applications and integrations on top of Xsolla's APIs and SDKs that show internal teams how to move faster using AI-assisted development.

  • Ship work that matters. What you build is expected to reach real users - whether that's an internal tool an engineering team adopts or a customer-facing integration - not a throwaway exercise that gets shelved after your internship ends.

  • Use agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) as your default way of working - not a novelty you reach for occasionally.

  • Share what you build. We run weekly 30-second lightning-talk demos where everyone shows how they used AI to solve something that week - you'll be expected to bring something real.

  • Work with minimal process. You'll get context, a problem, and a mentor - the rest is on you to figure out and build.

  • Learn from and collaborate with both directions: senior engineers who'll mentor you on production-grade practices, and fellow interns across markets you'll trade ideas and code with at the weekly demos.

What We're Looking For

You build things because you want to, and that you already use AI to do it faster.

  • Genuine passion for building. You have side projects, hackathon entries, open-source contributions, or something you shipped just because you were curious. You didn't need an assignment to make it happen.

  • Real AI fluency. You've actually used tools like Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or similar agentic coding tools to build something - not just asked ChatGPT to explain a concept. You should be able to explain how you used AI to get there and how you confirmed it actually worked - not someone who fires off a prompt and hopes for the best.

  • Bias toward action. Given an ambiguous problem, you start building before you ask for a spec.

  • Comfort with developing modern full-stack solutions - we care more about how fast you learn than what you already know cold.

  • Open to current undergraduate students, graduate students, and recent graduates of a Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related program. If you're pursuing a graduate degree and don't mind taking on an internship-level role to get hands-on with AI, we want to hear from you.

How to Apply

Please include:

  1. A link to a GitHub profile, deployed project, or anything else you've built - the more recent and self-directed, the better.

  2. A short answer (2-3 sentences, or a 2-minute video/Loom if you'd rather show than tell) to: "What's something hard you built recently, and why did you build it?"

We're not grading for correctness or polish. We're looking for whether you have a real answer, and whether it's clear you actually did the work yourself (with AI as your tool, not your ghostwriter).

$20 - $25 an hour
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:
Xsolla is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law.
We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in accordance with the Fair Chance Act.
 
Criminal History Consideration:
For the AI-First Engineering Intern, we will conduct a background check that may include the following:
Criminal history check
Employment verification
Education verification
 
Relevance to Job Responsibilities:
The background check is relevant to this position because of the following role responsibilities:
Accessing confidential company data
Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements
 
 
Rights Under the Fair Chance Act:
Applicants are encouraged to inquire about their rights under the Fair Chance Act. If you have questions regarding our hiring practices, please contact [email protected].
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.
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