Principal Physics Programmer, C++ – Modeling & Simulation

• Architect and implement the core C++ runtime behind a large-scale, interactive wargaming platform
• Own the structure, performance, and long-term health of a substantial engine codebase
• Design and evolve an entity-component-system architecture for large numbers of heterogeneous simulation entities
• Build data-oriented component storage, entity lifecycle management, system queries, execution graphs, and dependency-aware scheduling
• Define engine interfaces for physics, AI, sensor, weapon, behavior, and environmental models
• Create stable extension points for model developers
• Design simulation loops, time stepping, event processing, system ordering, state transitions, and deterministic replay
• Develop multithreaded and task-based execution systems
• Optimize memory layout, allocation, cache locality, component access, serialization, and data movement
• Profile and improve CPU utilization, memory use, latency, throughput, and simulation rate
• Build spatial indexing, broad-phase query, collision-candidate, visibility, and proximity-query infrastructure
• Integrate externally developed physics and mathematical models
• Develop checkpointing, snapshotting, state replication, save-and-restore, and reproducible replay systems
• Establish architecture for networked and distributed simulation
• Build tooling for entity inspection, system debugging, profiling, and simulation-state analysis
• Identify and eliminate architectural bottlenecks
• Lead engine design reviews, mentor programmers, and raise C++ architecture and performance standards
• Remain hands‑on in implementation, profiling, debugging, and code review

Requirements

• Extensive professional C++ development experience, or equivalent experience, building performance‑critical production software
• Significant experience in commercial game development, game‑engine development, or a similarly performance‑constrained real‑time environment
• Experience shipping at least one commercial game, engine, platform, or interactive real‑time product
• Ownership of foundational engine systems rather than primarily gameplay features, scripting, tools, or application‑level integrations
• Experience building or substantially extending a physics engine, game engine, simulation runtime, ECS, job system, or comparable core technology
• Expert command of modern C++, including object lifetimes, ownership, templates, concurrency, synchronization, profiling, and low‑level debugging
• Strong understanding of data‑oriented design, memory layout, cache behavior, allocation strategies, and performance‑sensitive data structures
• Experience designing or extending an entity‑component system or comparable composition‑based runtime architecture
• Experience with engine loops, execution graphs, task systems, event systems, dependency management, or runtime scheduling
• Demonstrated ability to optimize against hard CPU, memory, latency, and frame‑or‑tick‑time budgets
• Experience using commercial profiling and debugging tools
• Working knowledge of real‑time physics concepts including coordinate systems, numerical integration, collision detection, spatial partitioning, constraints, and simulation stability
• Experience designing APIs, plugin systems, SDKs, or extension frameworks used by other programmers
• Experience maintaining and improving a large C++ codebase while continuing to deliver production capabilities
• Experience leading major technical initiatives while remaining an active individual contributor
• Active Secret clearance or eligibility to obtain one
• Principal level expectation: 10+ years of experience
• Strongly preferred: SIMD, GPU compute, custom allocators, job systems, lock‑free structures, or platform‑specific optimization
• Strongly preferred: very large worlds or simulations with large numbers of active entities
• Strongly preferred: engine‑level serialization, snapshotting, replay, world partitioning, or streaming
• Strongly preferred: aerospace, robotics, autonomy, and defense simulations
• Strongly preferred: Air Force, Space Force, joint, or broader DoW acquisition and mission‑analysis programs
• Strongly preferred: models for sensors, weapons, electronic warfare, jamming, communications, logistics, or command and control
• Strongly preferred: active U.S. security clearance (Secret, Top Secret, or SCI/SAP)
• U.S. citizenship may be required for certain project assignments involving security clearance
• Legally authorized to work in the United States

Core Competencies

Demonstrates extensive expertise in C++ development for performance‑critical applications, with a strong focus on engine architecture, multithreading, and real‑time simulation. Proven ability to optimize complex systems and mentor teams while maintaining high standards in code quality and performance.

Highest‑signal resume keywords

• C++ Development
• Game Engine Development
• Entity‑Component System Architecture
• Performance Optimization
• Multithreaded Execution Systems

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• C++
• Data‑Oriented Design
• Memory Layout Optimization
• Entity Lifecycle Management
• Simulation Loop Design
• Profiling and Debugging
• Physics Engine Development
• Task‑Based Execution
• API Design
• Concurrency

Soft Skills

• Mentoring
• Leadership
• Collaboration

Certifications & Qualifications

• Active Secret Clearance
• Eligibility for Security Clearance

Industry Keywords

• Game Development
• Real‑Time Simulation
• Aerospace
• Robotics
• Defense Simulations

Tools & Technologies

• Commercial Profiling Tools
• Debugging Tools
• Simulation State Analysis Tools