Unreal Engine Developer - Simulation & Graphics

About the Role

Emirates Team New Zealand creates the technology behind winning the America’s Cup, and its simulation systems are a key part of how the team designs, evaluates, and races yachts. The company is seeking an Unreal Engine developer to strengthen the next generation of these tools.

This position combines real-time graphics with high-performance simulation. You will develop and maintain the visual layer of internal racing simulation software and also support external commercial projects. The underlying physics are handled in separate proprietary systems, while your focus will be on making the simulated world look believable, run efficiently, and provide genuine value to sailors and engineers.

Key Work Areas

• Build and support Unreal Engine applications used for yacht-racing simulation.
• Create convincing marine scenes, including water, waves, spray, weather, and lighting effects.
• Develop landscapes and environmental assets that improve both realism and clarity.
• Animate objects and crew figures to help visualize race scenarios.
• Work with materials, textures, and lighting to deliver strong real-time visual quality.
• Partner with simulation engineers and naval architects to interpret requirements and turn them into practical visual tools.
• Contribute to external commercial simulation work in addition to internal projects.

Requirements

The ideal candidate should have solid, practical experience with Unreal Engine, including both Blueprint and C++ development. You should understand core graphics concepts such as materials, lighting, textures, and post-processing, and be able to explain why a scene appears the way it does.

Experience creating or refining animations for objects and characters is important. While artistic training is not required, you should be able to make motion look convincing.

Exposure to marine environments is a strong advantage, especially if you have worked with water shaders, ocean systems, spray, or wake effects. You should also be comfortable building landscapes and terrain in Unreal.

On the C++ side, you will help with communication and networking between the physics layer and the graphics layer. Close collaboration with engineers is essential.

What We Are Not Looking For

You do not need to come from a background in physics simulation or hydrodynamics, as those responsibilities sit with other team members. This is also not an art-focused role. The team is looking for someone who writes strong code and has a deep understanding of graphics.

Work Environment

This is a full-time, on-site position based in Auckland. You will join a compact, highly capable team working on technically significant challenges that directly support the campaign. The role covers both internal tools used every day by the design team and commercial projects that extend the same technology into other industries.

Additional Information

If you have experience building real-time environments in Unreal and want to apply that skill set to one of the most demanding sporting programs in the world, this opportunity may be a strong fit.