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31st Union

Lead UI Technical Designer

San Mateo, California, United States

Location
San Mateo, California, United States
Work
Not stated
Employment
Not stated
Level
Lead / staff
Function
Design
Pay
$155.6K – $230.3K a year (read from the ad)
Posted
6 weeks ago

Pay and the market here

The top of this role’s range, $230K a year, is about the median of $234K for lead / staff design jobs in California (middle half $200K – $270K, 152 jobs that state pay).

32 design jobs open in San Mateo: 6% remote, 11 posted in the last 30 days.

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About the role

WE ARE GAME MAKERS

Who We Are

We are a diverse team of developers driven by a passion for our art, united by our core values and inspired by a culture of inclusivity to build amazing games that thrill players everywhere. We pursue growth and innovation in an environment of safety and trust. Our culture is built on the belief that the more varied voices in our collective will strengthen our team and our games. We are looking for our next teammate who will raise our bar and make us better.

Who You Are

We’re seeking a Lead UI Technical Designer with exceptional technical fluency, creative vision, and leadership potential to own and evolve our in-game UI systems at scale. You’ll own and drive the implementation of key UI features, working closely with designers, artists, producers, engineers and more. We’re a studio that values autonomy and self-drive in developers who are empowered to do the best work of their careers. If this is you, let’s talk!

Responsibilities

  • Champion the design, iteration, and maintenance of various UI systems. This includes dynamic widgets, responsive menus, and high-fidelity animations using Unreal Engine, Blueprint visual scripting, and AngelScript at an expert level.
  • Establish, document, and promote UI Blueprint architecture best practices and workflows, driving optimization strategies to ensure consistency, scalability, and performance across all UI systems for multiple platforms.
  • Evaluate and integrate emerging tools and technologies to enhance Experience Design (XD) across gameplay and other interactive elements.
  • Translate and improve UX designs into performant in-engine implementations while ensuring seamless integration of UI visuals and behavior with underlying game systems.
  • Establish and Reinforce UI Material workflows for widgets - creating scalable, clear and performant UI Materials for our widgets.
  • Partner closely with UX designers, UI artists, gameplay engineers, backend developers, and audio teams to align UI implementation with gameplay vision and technical feasibility.
  • Build out a collaborative development culture across the Experience Design department (UX, UI, UITD, and UI Engineering).
  • Mentor fellow technical designers and cross-functional collaborators. Contribute to growing the Technical UI function, including involvement in hiring and onboarding as the team scales.

Required Qualifications

  • Extensive experience building, debugging, and optimizing UI systems in UE4 or UE5 using Blueprints and UMG. Familiarity with UI materials, animation systems, and widget architecture is essential.
  • Ability to analyze and solve sophisticated technical and design problems while collaborating closely with engineers to contribute to the technical roadmap for XD features.
  • Deep understanding of data flow, modularity, and performance in UI systems.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives independently, drive decision-making, and take full ownership of complex UI systems.
  • Comfortable working in fast-paced environments and evolving pipelines. Eager to prototype, iterate, and respond constructively to feedback.

Relevant Experience

  • Prior experience shipping high-quality UI in a AAA game environment is highly desirable.
  • Solid grasp of scripting and programming fundamentals such as C++ or C#.
  • Experience contributing to or leading a UI tech design team.

The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $155,600 and $230,300 per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations.

Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards and eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Regular, full-time employees are also eligible for a range of benefits at the Company, including: medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage; 14 paid holidays per calendar year; paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Company’s discretionary time off program; up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year; paid parental and compassionate leave; wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support; family planning support through Maven; commuter benefits; and reimbursements for fitness-related expenses. Ontario only: The use of Artificial Intelligence is not being used to screen candidates. The position is for an existing vacancy.

#LI-Onsite

#LI-Hybrid

Source

Posted by 31st Union on their own hiring page, job-boards.greenhouse.io. OptiTalent shows it as published, read 07 Nov 2026 12:00 UTC; the original is the reference.

View the original ad ↗

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