The original BioShock team is at it again.  Under the direction of Ken Levine, we are setting our sights on outdoing our past achievements with BioShock Infinite.  With BioShock’s Metacritic rating set at 96, this won’t be an easy task.  This is why we need you.

Simply put, level builders create worlds.  As a level builder, you are directly responsible for creating our worlds.  You will need to combine a strong aesthetic sense in creating visually interesting spaces with a solid understanding of how gameplay is affected. You will also need to possess the technical skills to ensure that your levels work within the constraints of the game technology.

Job requirements:

• Understanding of contemporary 3D first-person engine technologies and editing tools
• Experience creating first-person levels using Unreal, Quake, Half-Life or similar technologies for commercial titles (this must be demonstrated through actual levels created for these engines)
• Understanding of and desire to create first-person shooter gameplay
• Interest in and understanding of architecture, lighting, texturing and other elements that are required to create aesthetically pleasing 3D levels
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Ability to work and contribute effectively in a team environment
• Collaborate with the Art Director to lead the creation of consistent, high-quality work
• Model, texture and light 3D environments for a state of the art next-gen game engine
• Meet project deadlines and milestones

Required skills:

• Outstanding communication skills
• Ability to work within technical constraints and generate top-quality art
• Ability to create a highly modular, reusable building system
• Clear understanding and implementation of technical guidelines and constraints
• Ability to effectively collaborate with other departments

Bonus Points:

• Experience with UE3
• Traditional art skills, ability to do occasional environment concept drawings/paintings
• Capable of creating any aspect of a 3D game environment including modeling, texturing, and lighting of terrain, architecture, world objects and collisions
• A fluent knowledge of 3ds Max and Photoshop
• Experience with animated environment effects (such as particles)
• 4+ years of industry experience.
• Ability to use basic programming or scripting tools

When Applying for this Position:
Please remember to include art samples as appropriate including 3D rendered material, concept sketches, 2D work and/or animation. When submitting extensive samples of 2D work, please send high-resolution samples, preferably on a CD submitted through mail, or provide the address for your online portfolio.  No one will be considered without a portfolio. To be considered for this position you must submit salary requirements.

Irrational is looking for someone with a strong understanding of audiovisual storytelling in an interactive medium and a deep technical understanding of game scripting to implement narrative sequences for BioShock Infinite. You’ll be bringing together FX, animation, game play, and environment to create scenes that raise the bar for storytelling in games.

Responsibilities:

• Implement in-game narrative sequences using Unreal’s kismet scripting language.
• Work with animators, FX-artists, designers and level builders to integrate narrative scenes into the flow of the game.
• Work with directors and leads to meet quality and story goals.
• Implement narrative sequences where the player retains control, and come up with solutions for dealing with the many potential pitfalls that brings.

Qualifications:

• Unreal Editor experience.
• Experience with Unreal kismet.
• Experience with scene layout.
• Strong grasp of cinematic theory and language.
• Ability to come up with elegant solutions to complex and often highly technical problems.
• Plusses: Experience in animation and FX creation

Portfolios must be included with application, either as a link or attached PDF. Applicants without an included portfolio will not be considered.

Summary of Position:
Irrational Games, the team that created the original BioShock, is looking for talented, experienced game designers to help craft the experience on our next big project, BioShock Infinite.

We are looking for level designers who can hit the ground running.  We expect you to conceive and execute level ideas that shock, immerse, amaze and create an experience that blows gamers’ minds. No applicants will be considered who aren’t able to demonstrate they’ve got the skills to build industry-changing levels.

Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for conceiving, documenting and tuning a number of different levels. Additionally, you will be required to work with our design tools to implement game mechanics or parameters. This position requires you to coordinate with artists and programmers to create levels that are second to none in the industry.

You must be familiar with the current state of the art in game design across a wide range of genres on both PC and console. You must be capable of analyzing and critiquing game designs and levels.  We expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.

Finally, there are a wide variety of miscellaneous other tasks associated with this position such as speaking at conferences, working on game documentation and manuals and occasional PR duties.

Required Experience and Skills:
This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the team to form a “vision” of your levels and use that vision to inform your design decisions.

An important part of the role is communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design.

Above all we are looking for somebody with enthusiasm, passion and the desire to create levels that are going to amaze gamers.

When Applying for this Position:
Please remember to include:  video, screenshots or save games for levels that you created in the past.  Game design documents, writing samples and/or game analysis should be submitted as appropriate. To be considered for this position you must submit salary requirements.

Summary of Position:
Irrational Games, the team that created the original BioShock, is looking for talented, experienced game designers to help craft the experience on our next big project, BioShock Infinite.

As a Systems Designer, you’ll be the man in the middle of the million moving parts that transform high-level gameplay concepts into concrete player experience (and back again).

You’ll need to think on your feet during heated brainstorming sessions, drill down for detailed documentation and possess the technical acumen to dive in and hook it all up yourself when necessary.  You’ll also need a strong understanding of level design, gameplay pacing and global balance to keep a holistic view of how it all fits together when the rubber meets the road of moment to moment gameplay.

A bit of a jack of all trades, if you will.  And we hope you will.  Come join us!

Responsibilities:

• Primary ownership for the design, prototyping and fostering of one or more core gameplay systems, including player mechanics, world simulation and/or AI
• Lead, coordinate and participate in collaborative, interdisciplinary sub-teams to implement and balance gameplay features from initial design to final polish
• Author, revise and provide feedback on internal design documentation, including feature specifications and implementation guides
• Collaborate with the design team to incorporate systems into level gameplay and maintain overall balance between multiple gameplay systems
• Continually iterate, balance and tune features and gameplay based on feedback from design leads, QA and playtesting
• Lead collaboration and facilitate communication across studio locations as the primary stakeholder and champion of one or more gameplay sub-systems

Qualifications

Education/Experience:

• 3+ Years of game development experience, ideally in a systems design capacity
• Previous experience with gameplay scripting or programming languages
• At least one shipped title in the current generation of consoles

Skills:

• Superb written oral communication skills
• Strong ability to deconstruct high level gameplay systems and creative direction into specific technical details, features, and tasks
• Ability to work in highly collaborative, interdisciplinary, iterative environment, while delivering under deadlines and time constraints
• Exhaustive knowledge of competitive products and industry trends
• Ability to learn new software tools and technologies.  Previous experience with Unreal a plus
• Some travel may be required

When Applying for this Position:
Please remember to include  video, screenshots, or save game files that illustrate game-defining features that you created in the past.  Game design documents, writing samples and/or game analysis should be submitted as appropriate. To be considered for this position you must submit salary requirements.

We are looking for a highly organized, self-motivated systems administrator to assist with IT support of our studio.  Candidates should be able to work as part of a team but equally will work unsupervised.

Responsibilities:

• Diagnose and resolve desktop and server hardware/software issues.
• Maintenance, configuration, and troubleshooting day to day file storage, email systems and backup operations.
• Basic network configuration of switches and firewalls.

Qualifications:

• 5 years experience
• Experience supporting and diagnosing issues with Microsoft Windows, Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange
• Understanding of common network protocols/services
• Knowledge of server and PC workstation hardware
• Dedication, teamwork and professionalism
• Must be physically capable of moving typical desktop and server hardware

Desired:

• Preferred CS or MIS degree
• Shell or batch scripting experience
• Knowledge of Linux, Apple Mac
• IT support experience in a creative environment
• Interest and knowledge of games and game development

Please provide Salary Requirements when applying.
This is a Temporary position with the potential to become permanent.

The Interactive Marketing Director (IMD) is responsible for all of the interactive marketing efforts to support Irrational Games and its products. This includes, but is not limited to, its websites, forums, social media strategies, press site, and online store. The IMD sets clear objectives, develops strategies to deliver on those objectives, and works closely together with the Game Evangelist, Web Developer and IT group internally, as well as external vendors and partners. The IMD closely monitors success metrics for each objective, and adjusts the strategies accordingly if so required.

Responsibilities

• Develop, grow, manage, maintain, and ensure success of:
-IrrationalGames.com
-BioShockInfinite.com
-Irrational Games Youtube channel
-Irrational Games Facebook page
-Irrational Games Twitter account, and Ken Levine’s Twitter account
-Irrational Games Flickr page
-Irrational Games podcasts

• Provide an long term plans for our online presence, including budget needs and content needs
• Set objectives, develop supporting strategies, and translate these strategies into tasks with deadlines, managing the project to meet the goals by mobilizing internal and external resources
• Encourage, recruit and provide internal/external experts with the resources to post
• Ensure that projects are completed, and those involved are compensated and recognized.
• Provide leadership to motivate and maximize the impact of the online community’s efforts
• Develop promotional campaigns to generate traffic and awareness, through SEO, online media buys, promotions, and frequent delivery of content.
• Ensure that each of these media becomes a viable tool enabling communication to consumers, by constantly analyzing its performance and the effectiveness of the content.
• Be available to staff, assisting them in identifying and using online tools if it can help them achieve their goals related to their position, guiding and encouraging them and providing support
• Constantly evaluate our platforms to increase their technical performance, and usability.
• Constantly evaluates new opportunities in the interactive space
• Create detailed weekly and monthly community reports for internal stakeholders, outlining recent progress and future initiatives.
• Work with the development team, the marketing team, and external parties to ensure a frequent delivery of updates and features.
• Provide guidance for moderation in the forums on Irrational Games website and individual game communities; ensure that a positive environment is maintained and reflects Irrational’s commitment to excellent customer services
• Develop strategies to engage and motivate Irrational Games’ most active online advocates & ensure their efforts are recognized
• Coordinate the efforts of evangelists, employees, external agencies, forum moderators so that affected projects are executed efficiently and in a timely manner
• Perform market research when required, analyzing competitive communities, and gathering community feedback to improve future fan-oriented efforts.
• Stay abreast of new tools, best practices and competitive activity, so that Irrational Games can continue to be on the forefront of new web developments.
• Participate in professional networking by following the prominent bloggers, online writers and web seminars.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of online marketing experience, developing interactive campaigns, and websites, of which at least 5 years of experience on a management level
• Passionate about social media and interactive marketing
• Experienced gamer with an understanding of competitive products and online communities
• Excellent organization, interpersonal, and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Self-motivated with ability to work independently.
• Driven to help the company achieve its objectives, approaching the role as serving an internal client
• Strong planning and project management skills and good analytical skills.
• Working knowledge of HTML and HTML editing programs, Microsoft Office, basic knowledge Photoshop,
• Applicants should have a topical understanding of and be prepared for use of: SEO, Lithium, Rowfeeder, Meltwater, PitchEngine, CrimsonHexagon, peerfluence or other Reputation Management/WOM measurement products. Bulletin Board Management Software / Forum Software, Social Media platforms, seeding and online community marketing strategies.

Reports To: Irrational Games Marketing Director.

To be considered for the position please provide your salary requirements.

Irrational Games is looking for programmers at all experience levels to join our tech and gameplay teams on BioShock Infinite.  Whether you are a grizzled veteran of the video game wars or have only one game under your belt, if you think you have what it takes, we want to hear from you.

Our programmers build the systems and tools that our content creators will use to create the amazing game experiences that Irrational Games is known for. They need great communication skills, a passion for building games, and the ability to work in as many different technical areas (physics, audio, graphics, animation, AI, optimization, multithreading, SPU programming, networking, etc.) as it takes to “make things happen”.

If you join our team, you will be responsible for:

• One or more major areas of the game software, and/or multiple systems
• Working closely with the content creators to help them achieve their goals
• Working with your manager to generate technical designs and schedules
• Writing, documenting and testing the code that you design
• Supervising junior or mid-level programmers (if applicable)

Required Experience and Skills:

• Excellent understanding of C/C++
• Commitment to code quality, documentation and sound testing procedures
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience working primarily on any of the following: Gameplay, Real-Time Graphics, AI, Audio, Physics, Optimization, SPU Programming, Multiplayer Networking, or Tools
• One or more shipped game titles
• Experience with recent game console technology (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii), especially PS3
• Experience with Unreal Engine technology

When Applying for this Position:

• Only applications with salary requirements will be considered.
• Please let us know how you heard that we were hiring.

The core technology team are the “Marines” of development, performing the technical heroics that keep pipelines humming, tools from crashing, load screens from appearing, threads from stalling, and games locked at 60Hz. Tech team members have both exceptional technical chops and the wisdom of experience to guide them in their support of our artists, designers, and gameplay programmers.

The BioShock Infinite team is looking for exceptional individuals to join our Core Technology team. Tech team members must possess the rare combination of personal initiative, strong problem solving and interpersonal skills, and experience programming at the game, engine and pipeline levels. This is a very challenging position and only very strong candidates will be considered.

Universal Responsibility:

• We expect people to seek out all relevant information on their subject and be able to respond to spontaneous inquiries on that subject.

Responsibilities:

• Extending and enhancing the BioShock Infinite engine, middleware, and proprietary tech to address performance, platform, production, tools, and gameplay requirements
• Working with a team of engineers in the design and implementation of tools, pipeline and workflow enhancements, platform-specific subsystems, and optimizations
• Working with the Lead Engineers and Technical Director to plan and execute major changes to core technology
• Ensure that we meet our performance and quality goals on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms

Qualifications:

• Excellent interpersonal skills; ability to work well with other engineers and ability to adapt to rapidly-changing requirements
• Exceptional debugging skills
• Ability to focus upon and overcome complex technical challenges
• Shipped at least one commercial game title, preferably from start to finish
• Exceptional C++ proficiency and software engineering intuition

Things that would really make you stand out:

• Substantial experience making engine-level changes targeting modern console platforms
• Extensive understanding of Unreal Engine
• Low-level PS3 experience
• Previous senior-level experience in two or more low-level areas such as graphics, physics, networking, asset conditioning and pipeline, or platform-specific optimization

Location: Boston, MA

Please note: you must be authorized to work in the US to be considered for this position.

The BioShock Infinite team bets big on everything we do — we strive to be careful about the problems we tackle, innovative in our approach, solid in our implementation, and we polish the heck out of everything we do. Networking is no exception. Right now we’re looking for an talented and experienced individual to help us with the networking aspects of BioShock Infinite. This position will require a combination of initiative, leadership, design, coding, and daily problem solving on multiple target platforms.

If you have the skills and passion for world-class network-connected experiences like BioShock then why not come join a team that has the track record, the autonomy, and the time to do it right?

Universal Responsibility:

• We expect people to seek out all relevant information on their subject and be able to respond to spontaneous inquiries on that subject.

Responsibilities:

• Work with the team who created BioShock network code
• Advising engineers on how to properly architect their systems for optimal networking
• Extending and enhancing Unreal Engine 3 with proprietary networking tech to address gameplay, performance, platform, production, tools, and QA needs
• Interfacing with Microsoft, Sony, and other providers about platform-specific services
• Working with the Technical Director, Lead Programmers, and IT Director to plan and execute major changes to client-side technology and back-end services
• Responsible for delivering a robust, scalable, and responsive client-side networking support on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms

Qualifications:

• Shipped at least one commercial network-connected game title, preferably on a console
• Familiarity with TCP/IP, UDP, and in depth knowledge of game networking models
• Deep understanding of strategies for data replication and bandwidth/latency optimization
• Excellent C++ proficiency and software engineering intuition
• Excellent interpersonal skills, desire to mentor other engineers, and ability to adapt to rapidly-changing requirements

Things that would really make you stand out:

• Extensive understanding of Unreal Engine networking
• Experience with XBox Live Server Pages, Title Managed Storage, and/or the Sony equivalents
• Previous experience developing network back-end support on multi-console title with support for matchmaking, stat tracking and analysis, in-game push updates, etc.

Location: Boston, MA

Please note: you must be authorized to work in the US to be considered for this position.

Forget leaderboards. Forget DLC. Forget Web 2.0, social networking, and online chit-chat. We live in a world of constant, ubiquitous online connectivity that opens up far more dramatic options in triple-A console and PC gaming.  The team that created the BioShock franchise is currently building systems to help us better understand how people play our games and use that information to improve our game experiences not just in the future, but in real-time.

Irrational Games is looking for exceptional individuals to expand our Online Infrastructure team, where our mandate is to leverage online connectivity to deliver added value and groundbreaking experiences to gamers worldwide, both at launch and over time.  If you have a passion for gaming and significant experience in areas such as high-volume server software development, online infrastructure design, NoSQL solutions and backend services, then we encourage you to apply.

Summary of Position:

• Working on a small team within a larger game team to implement server-side support for user experiences that are new to console gaming
• Working in multiple codebases, languages, and implementation paradigms
• Analyzing and adapting off-the-shelf software to best implement architectural goals
• Improving durability and maintainability of key services via load testing analysis and development of uptime and reporting tools

Requirements:

• Experience programming server related technologies for 3+ years (databases, multi-platform, multi-process)
• Experience developing distributed applications in a non-homogeneous environment
• Understanding of application-level communication protocol design/usage and transport protocols
• Proficiency in C/C++ and C#, T-SQL, and Python or a similar scripting/utility/glue language
• Commitment to code quality, documentation, and sound testing procedures
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

Things would that would really make you stand out:

• Experience developing and deploying applications using multiple databases, programming languages and operating systems
• Experience using Microsoft IIS or Apache, and SQL or NoSQL in a performance critical environment
• Having shipped a PS3 or Xbox 360 title

When Applying for this Position:

To be considered for this position you must submit salary requirements.

The BioShock Infinite team bets big on everything we do — we strive to be careful about the problems we tackle, innovative in our approach, solid in our implementation, and we polish the heck out of everything we do. Networking is no exception. Right now we’re looking for an talented and experienced individual to help us with the networking aspects of BioShock Infinite. This position will require a combination of initiative, leadership, design, coding, and daily problem solving on multiple target platforms.

If you have the skills and passion for world-class network-connected experiences like BioShock then why not come join a team that has the track record, the autonomy, and the time to do it right?

Universal Responsibility:

• We expect people to seek out all relevant information on their subject and be able to respond to spontaneous inquiries on that subject.

Responsibilities:

• Building single- and multi-player UIs within Unreal Engine 3 using our Flash-based UI tech
• Collaborating closely with artists and designers to rapidly iterate on potential UI designs
• Working with the Technical Director, Lead Programmer, and other engineers to plan and schedule UI development tasks
• Responsible for delivering world-class user interfaces on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms

Qualifications:

• Bachelor-level degree in Computer Science or a related discipline
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• C++ proficiency and good software engineering intuition
• The patience and professionalism to handle the continual UI iteration that occurs during development

Things that would really make you stand out:

• Shipped at least one commerical game title, preferably on a console platform
• Experience with Flash and ActionScript programming, especially ScaleForm
• Experience using Unreal Engine 2.5 or 3

Location: Boston, MA

Please note: you must be authorized to work in the US to be considered for this position.

Irrational Games, the team behind BioShock (as well as SWAT 4, Freedom Force, and System Shock 2), is hiring Temporary Quality Assurance Testers to work on BioShock Infinite. If you’re a skilled and capable tester and want to work with a world-class team to push the boundaries of gaming yet again, we want to hear from you!  Or if you want to be exposed to the game development process and have a hand in improving the game as it grows and evolves from the ground up, we also want to hear from you!

Our Quality Assurance Testers are the people who work at all development levels of a game by testing out development tools, scrutinizing the game, and reporting on any defects found. They need great communication skills (especially written), a passion for playing and testing games, and the ability to work on as many different areas (audio, graphics, animation, AI, gameplay, etc.) and for as many overtime hours as it takes to ensure a quality product both during and at the end of the project.  No previous experience necessary, as we will teach you everything you need to know.

Job Responsibilities:

• General testing on the game.
• Testing development tools being used to create the game.
• Write bug reports or otherwise communicate issues.
• Verify bug fixes.
• Writing and running test checklists/test suites.
• Interfacing with developers of all disciplines.

Required Experience and Skills:

• High school diploma.
• Experience with next-gen consoles and PC.
• Great attention to detail when handling all responsibilities.
• Strong problem-solving abilities.
• Strong written & verbal communication.
• Excellent teamwork and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent focus and time management.
• Excellent ownership of responsibilities.
• Self-motivated.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Previous testing experience.
• Previous experience in the game industry.
• Experience with level editors.
• Programming and/or game design knowledge.

Local candidates only.