Game AI Designer, Decision - making Systems

Game AI Designer, Decision‑making Systems - Remote Eligible

Design and implement a configurable decision‑making AI framework for AtomEngine's entity brain

Location: Remote

Compensation: $180,000 – 220,000 USD per year

About The Role

We’re hiring a Game AI Designer to design and productize the entity “brain” that governs behavior across AtomEngine, enabling internal teams and external developers to author, configure, and extend intelligent behavior. The role focuses on decision‑making systems—HTNs, GOAP, and state machines—to define how entities perceive the world, evaluate options, select actions, and adapt to dynamic conditions. You will also productize the AI system, ensuring it can be exposed to developers and end users via APIs and the ModKit.

What You’ll Do

• Develop a deep understanding of the simulation’s features, constraints, and emergent dynamics
• Research military doctrine and commander intent to understand expectations for how entities should behave under a broad range of circumstances
• Conceptualize and design AI behavior models using HTNs, GOAP, state machines, and related decision frameworks that can express a wide range of intended outcomes and behaviors
• Define the structure, abstractions, and constraints of the entity “brain,” in close collaboration with engineering
• Translate high‑level intent into concrete, inspectable, and configurable decision logic
• Design and author entity behavior using a visual scripting editor
• Design behavior systems that support variation, parameterization, and reuse rather than hard‑coded outcomes
• Participate in iteration cycles to refine behaviors based on simulation outcomes, user feedback, and observed emergent behavior

What We Look For

• 3–5 years’ experience designing game‑based AI/decision‑making systems using HTNs, GOAP, state machines, or comparable frameworks
• Proven ability to conceptualize AI behavior models that express a wide range of intended outcomes, constraints, and variations
• Strong systems‑thinking skills, with the ability to reason about complex decision spaces, trade‑offs, and emergent behavior
• Experience partnering closely with engineers to design and evolve runtime AI systems, including defining abstractions, constraints, and interfaces
• Sufficient experience writing code so that you can read, understand, and contribute to behavior‑related code, prototypes, or tools in collaboration with engineering
• Ability to clearly articulate design intent, assumptions, and limitations to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Due to federal contract requirements, U.S. Citizenship is mandatory for this position

Preferred Qualifications

• Active or prior U.S. security clearance (or eligibility to obtain one)
• Background in military operations and warfighting concepts – either through prior service or sustained personal interest