Principal Machine Learning Engineer, AI Authoring

The opportunity
At Unity, we’re shaping the future of real-time 3D development by enabling creators to harness intelligent, autonomous systems. Our next-generation agentic AI - goal-directed, adaptive, and capable of reasoning and planning in dynamic environments - is transforming how games and simulations come to life.

We’re looking for a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead the development of these foundational AI systems within the Unity engine, empowering creators to build smarter, more responsive in-game agents and simulations. Your work will directly drive innovation, allowing developers and designers to integrate sophisticated AI behavior seamlessly into their worlds.

This role is perfect for someone passionate about pushing the boundaries of AI, multi-agent systems, reinforcement learning, and intelligent decision-making in complex, real-time environments.

What you'll be doing

• Lead the design, implementation, and scaling of AI agent systems in Unity that enable goal-directed behavior, task planning, and environment-aware decision-making.
• Define and oversee the development of reusable agentic frameworks - such as planning modules, memory systems, or policy adaptation layers - that creators can extend in their projects.
• Architect ML models to operate efficiently under real-time engine constraints, balancing latency, compute, and determinism.
• Drive high-impact initiatives, including hierarchical reinforcement learning, AI planning and goal inference frameworks, and agent memory/world modeling systems for persistent, believable behavior.
• Set the technical roadmap and long-term strategy for Unity’s agentic AI offerings, ensuring modularity, performance, and usability across platforms.
• Establish and champion best practices in ML system design, simulation-based evaluation, and AI safety within real-time systems.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineers and researchers, cultivating a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and collaboration.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including engine developers, product managers, and designers, to unlock innovative AI-driven use cases in gaming, simulation, and interactive storytelling.

What we're looking for

• Advanced degree (MS or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field - or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of hands-on experience developing ML systems in production, ideally within real-time or interactive environments.
• Strong background in one or more of the following: LLM, reinforcement learning, decision-making under uncertainty, AI planning, or multi-agent systems.
• Proficiency in at least one general-purpose programming language (e.g., Python, C++, Go, Java) and familiarity with ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow).
• Deep understanding of environment-agent interaction loops, control systems, or simulation frameworks.
• Strong system design skills and the ability to architect performant, scalable ML systems.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills; ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams including engine developers, designers, and product managers.
• Proven leadership and mentoring experience, with excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical and non-technical teams.

You might also have

• Experience integrating ML/AI systems into game engines or real-time simulations.
• Familiarity with Unity or similar 3D engines.
• Experience with behavior trees, utility AI, or hierarchical task planning.
• Publications or open-source contributions in reinforcement learning, agent-based modeling, or related areas.
• Passion for enabling creators and making AI accessible and powerful in real-time worlds.

Additional information

• International relocation support is not available for this position

Life at Unity
We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support employees' well-being and work-life balance. You can read more about them on our career page.

Unity [NYSE: U] is the leading platform to create and grow games and interactive experiences. Creators, ranging from game developers to artists, architects, automotive designers, infrastructure experts, filmmakers, and more, use Unity to bring their imaginations to life across multiple platforms, from mobile, PC, and console, to spatial computing.

As of the third quarter of 2024, more than 70% of the top 1,000 mobile games were made with Unity, and in 2024, Made with Unity applications had an average of 3.7 billion downloads per month. For more information, please visit Unity.

Unity is a proud equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment and celebrate our employees across age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law. Our differences are strengths that enable us to support the growing and evolving needs of our customers, partners, and collaborators. If you have a disability that means there are preparations or accommodations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please fill out this form to let us know.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

This position requires the incumbent to have a sufficient knowledge of English to have professional verbal and written exchanges in this language since the performance of the duties related to this position requires frequent and regular communication with colleagues and partners located worldwide and whose common language is English.

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