Tech Lead / Unreal Developer

About Us!

At Sourcing Unicorns, we recruit globally across the creative and experiential industry, always on the lookout for exceptional talent to bring bold ideas to life. For this opportunity, we’re proud to collaborate with the team at Fivestone Studios to find the unicorn, the one who will truly make a difference. Together, we ensure a smooth and human-centered hiring experience that reflects the studio’s vision.

About Fivestone Studios!

Fivestone Studios is a Nashville-based creative media agency that an international clientele trust as their creative secret weapon. Our MO is taking on giants and making heroes of our clients through an impressive arsenal of strategy, design, digital media production & interactive technology capabilities.

Our primary goal at Fivestone Studios is to make a space for creative warriors to grow, thrive and take on their own giants. We use our Five Stones as our lens for success and our foundation for a healthy culture: honor, bravery, vision, generosity and excellence. If you have a passion for teamwork, are willing to leave your ego at the door, and have a strong drive for creative excellence, we would love to talk.

Your Mission

We are seeking a Lead Unreal Engine Developer to take technical ownership of the architecture, development, integration, and final delivery of a complex Unreal Engine application for an immersive, interactive experience.

In this role, you will bridge creative development, technical art, third-party software development, and physical AV systems integration.

You will be responsible for maintaining the Technical Design Document, defining the application's technical architecture, coordinating development tasks, and ensuring that all software components integrate into a stable, optimized, and deployable application.

We are looking for a hands-on technical leader who can balance creative ambition with practical implementation, proactively identify technical risks, collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams, and make informed technical decisions throughout production.

PS.: Candidates must be able to work and collaborate during US business hours (US time zones), regardless of their location.

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Technical Architecture & Documentation

- Own, develop, and maintain the Technical Design Document (TDD).

- Define application architecture, software dependencies, integration requirements, and technical workflows.

- Establish development standards and best practices for C++, Blueprints, project organization, and source control.

- Identify technical risks, performance constraints, and potential integration challenges early in development.

- Document the final application architecture and deployment requirements for ongoing maintenance and support.

2. Unreal Engine Application Development & Delivery

- Lead the development, integration, optimization, and delivery of the final Unreal Engine application.

- Implement and maintain core application systems using C++ and Blueprints.

- Integrate independently developed features, assets, and visual systems into a unified application.

- Troubleshoot performance, rendering, compatibility, and application stability issues.

- Manage application packaging, deployment configurations, and final production builds.

- Support system testing, debugging, and final deployment.

3. Development Planning & JIRA Support

- Collaborate with the Producer and development team to translate technical requirements into actionable JIRA tasks.

- Define technical dependencies, implementation priorities, and acceptance criteria.

- Provide technical estimates and identify potential development blockers.

- Review completed work to ensure consistency with the overall application architecture.

- Communicate technical progress, risks, and integration requirements to project stakeholders.

4. AV Hardware Consultation & Integration

- Collaborate with AV integrators and hardware vendors to ensure the Unreal application operates correctly within the specified hardware environment.

- Consult on GPU/CPU requirements, rendering performance, display configurations, and system architecture.

- Support integration with external hardware, display systems, and control interfaces.

- Identify and resolve hardware/software compatibility and performance challenges.

- Participate in system testing, commissioning, and deployment as needed.

5. Web Overlay & UI Integration

- Coordinate with a third-party web development vendor responsible for creating web-based UI overlays.

- Define and support communication interfaces between Unreal Engine and web-based UI components.

- Integrate web overlays into the Unreal application, ensuring reliable communication, rendering, and interaction.

- Troubleshoot integration issues and collaborate with the vendor on performance and compatibility.

6. Technical Art & Real-Time Visual Integration

- Collaborate with Unreal Technical Artists to integrate real-time graphics, shaders, materials, effects, and visual systems.

- Establish performance budgets and technical guidelines for externally developed visual content.

- Evaluate and optimize visual assets to meet target frame rates and hardware requirements.

- Troubleshoot rendering, shader, material, and Blueprint integration issues.

- Ensure independently developed visual systems function cohesively within the final application.

Your Journey Includes

Must Have Experience

- Unreal Engine: Advanced experience developing and delivering applications using Unreal Engine 5.

- C++ Programming: Strong proficiency in Unreal C++ development, debugging, and application architecture.

- Blueprints: Advanced knowledge of Blueprint systems and best practices for combining Blueprints with C++.

- Graphics & Performance Optimization: Experience profiling and optimizing GPU/CPU performance, shaders, materials, and real-time rendering.

- Application Architecture: Experience designing modular, maintainable software systems and integrating work from multiple developers.

- Technical Leadership: Ability to take ownership of technical decisions, coordinate dependencies, and guide development efforts across multiple disciplines.

- Source Control & Collaboration: Experience with Git, Perforce, or equivalent version control systems.

- Production Delivery: Experience building, troubleshooting, packaging, and deploying production-ready Unreal Engine applications.

Nice to Have Experience

- JavaScript / TypeScript: Familiarity with modern web development and communication between native applications and browser-based interfaces.

- React: Experience integrating React-based interfaces or web overlays with Unreal Engine.

- AI-Assisted Programming: Practical experience using AI coding assistants to improve development efficiency, debugging, and documentation.

- Shader & Material Development: Experience building custom shaders, materials, and advanced rendering effects in Unreal Engine.

- Immersive & Interactive Installations: Experience developing software for museums, exhibitions, themed entertainment, or location-based experiences.

- AV & Show Control Systems: Experience with external control systems, hardware communication protocols, and real-time event-driven applications.

- Deployment & Reliability: Experience with unattended installations, application monitoring, recovery workflows, and long-duration runtime stability.

Thank you for applying. We're committed to an inclusive process and we welcome talent from all walks of life. We aim to review every application. Roles in experiential can be ultra-specialized; if it's not a fit for this one, we may still flag your profile for future opportunities. Thanks for helping grow the Sourcing Unicorns talent ecosystem.