Director of Engineering - Engine

About the Role

LEGO Digital Play’s Platform Technology team is shaping the future of online creativity by taking inspiration from the LEGO brand’s “system in play,” and reimagining it for the next generation of digital creators.

We are building an engine that will power a platform where millions of games can be created and played by millions of people around the world. The engine will form the foundation of a creator ecosystem designed to last for decades, enabling scalable simulation, efficient rendering, and broad distribution across mobile, web, console, and PC.

We are seeking a Director of Engineering - Engine to lead the architecture and development of this foundational technology. This role combines deep technical leadership in game engine architecture with the ability to build and mentor a high-performing engineering organization.

The Director will shape the technical direction of the engine while fostering a highly collaborative environment built on communication, trust, and shared ownership. We value constructive debate and professional disagreement, where ideas are challenged openly in service of building the best possible platform.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the engineering organization responsible for the core engine technology powering the LEGO Digital Play ecosystem.

• Define and drive the architecture of the engine, ensuring it supports millions of creators and players across multiple platforms.

• Design a durable and evolvable engine architecture capable of supporting the platform for decades while maintaining backward compatibility.

• Guide the development of core runtime systems including simulation, physics, rendering, and asset pipelines.

• Ensure the engine integrates seamlessly with a server-authoritative backend architecture, enabling efficient simulation across both client and server environments.

• Optimize the engine for broad hardware reach, including mobile, web, console, and PC, with strong focus on performance and small footprint.

• Explore and integrate existing engines or middleware when appropriate rather than building everything from scratch.

• Lead early technical prototyping and experimentation to validate architectural decisions.

• Build and mentor a high-performing engineering organization of engine and systems developers.

• Foster a culture of open communication, trust, and constructive conflict, where diverse perspectives are encouraged and technical decisions are driven by what is best for the platform.

• Promote a strong tooling mindset, ensuring the engine enables other teams and creators to build efficiently.

• Partner closely with product leadership and other platform teams to align engine capabilities with the long-term vision of LEGO Digital Play.

Qualifications:

• 15+ years of experience in the gaming industry, including significant experience building large-scale interactive systems or game platforms.

• 10+ years of experience developing games or game technologies for mobile platforms and performance-constrained environments.

• Proven leadership experience building and leading high-performing engineering teams.

• Deep expertise in game engine architecture, including runtime systems, rendering pipelines, and modular engine design.

• Strong expertise in simulation systems, including physics engines, deterministic simulation, and scalable runtime architectures.

• Experience designing extensible engine platforms, including plugin architectures, creator-facing tooling, and systems that enable other teams to build on top of the engine.

• Experience implementing streaming architectures for assets, code, or world data to support large-scale interactive experiences.

• Expertise in server-authoritative multiplayer architectures and distributed simulation models.

• Experience optimizing runtime and graphical performance across multiple platforms, including mobile, web, console, and PC.

• Experience working with commercial or proprietary game engines at both architectural and low-level systems layers.

• Proven track record of delivering complex technical products with full ownership and long-term platform responsibility.

• Strong systems thinking, architectural decision-making, and ability to operate effectively in both small empowered teams and medium-to-large organizations.

What Success Looks Like:

• Delivered a robust engine architecture capable of powering millions of creator-built experiences across multiple platforms for generations.

• Built an engine platform that achieves high performance, small footprint, and broad hardware compatibility.

• Established a scalable and highly effective engine engineering organization.

• Successfully integrated the engine with the platform’s server-authoritative backend architecture.

• Enabled creators and developers through powerful tools, workflows, and extensibility mechanisms.

• Introduced technical standards ensuring the engine remains durable, evolvable, and backward compatible over time.

• Fostered a strong engineering culture focused on innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence.

• Positioned the LEGO Digital Play platform to become a leading destination for player-driven creativity and large-scale interactive experiences.

LEGO Digital Play is committed to inspiring and developing the builders of tomorrow - both in the physical and digital worlds. If you are passionate about shaping the future of interactive play through innovation, technology, AI, and programmable systems we invite you to come build the future with us!