Senior Programmer C++ UE4/5 - Virtual Production / Broadcast

The world's leading cognitive sports trainer are hiring a Senior Programmer, C++ UE4/5, to help build and evolve the Unreal front-end for exar.live, our real-time broadcast system used in live sports, virtual studios, and virtual production workflows. You will work closely with the exar.live broadcast team, the Director of Technology, and the wider engineering group to bridge data, control, and orchestration services into robust, broadcast-ready Unreal experiences.

This role suits a senior engineer who is comfortable operating in a production-critical environment where reliability, latency, determinism, and operational clarity matter as much as visuals. While applicants from a games background are welcome, prior experience in broadcast/virtual production is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Unreal Real-Time Front End (Broadcast-Critical)

Design and implement Unreal features and systems that power real-time broadcast graphics and virtual studio output.

Develop stable, maintainable C++ and Blueprint solutions with a focus on performance, determinism, and operational reliability.

Build and maintain tools and workflows for live operation (operator-friendly controls, failsafes, clear status/health indicators, fast recovery paths).

Own profiling and optimisation across CPU/GPU, memory, streaming, and rendering pipeline constraints typical of broadcast/VP environments.

Data Integration & Systems Bridging

Integrate data feeds and internal services into Unreal to drive real-time graphics, animation, logic, and scene states.

Collaborate with backend/data engineers to define interfaces, message formats, and validation rules to ensure resilient data-driven behaviour.

Implement robust handling for imperfect live data: missing values, jitter, latency spikes, out-of-range values, and reconnection scenarios.

Build diagnostic tooling (logging, on-screen debug, playback/record/replay of data streams) to support rehearsal and live operations.

Virtual Production & Broadcast Pipeline

Work with the broadcast team to ensure Unreal output aligns with studio requirements, including colour consistency, frame pacing, genlock/timecode considerations, and clean/dirty feed needs (where applicable).

Support integration with production control systems and operator workflows (e.g., trigger-based cues, rundown-style control, remote operation).

Collaborate with technical directors, artists, and VP specialists to establish repeatable content and deployment workflows suitable for production.

Engineering Leadership

Act as a senior technical contributor: set standards, conduct code reviews, mentor developers, and help define best practices for Unreal projects in a broadcast context.

Translate requirements from broadcast operations into clear technical scopes and delivery plans.

Improve maintainability and scalability of the Unreal codebase and build pipeline (automation, packaging, versioning, environment parity).

Required Skills & Experience

Significant professional experience developing with Unreal Engine (senior-level; shipped or production-deployed work).

Strong C++ development skills with practical Blueprint experience and an understanding of when to use each.

Demonstrated experience working on real-time systems where performance and reliability are critical (e.g., broadcast, VP, simulation, live events, or comparable environments).

Solid understanding of rendering, performance profiling, and optimisation in Unreal.

Strong problem-solving capability and a methodical debugging approach across engine, tools, and integrated systems.

Excellent collaboration and communication skills, particularly when bridging data/backend concerns with real-time front-end needs.

Must-Have Domain Knowledge

Virtual production and broadcast workflows: candidates must understand the realities of live production environments (rehearsal, cues, operator workflows, failover thinking, and production-readiness).

Highly Desirable / Bonus Experience (Tech Stack)

Broadcast/VP ecosystem familiarity, such as:

NDI / SDI concepts and real-time video I/O pipelines

Genlock / timecode concepts, frame sync, latency management

XR / virtual studio workflows, camera tracking integrations, lens calibration concepts

Integration with control layers (e.g., web control panels, OSC/MIDI-style triggers, remote command interfaces, rundown systems)

Experience building tooling for operators (UI/UX for control rooms, quick presets, safe defaults, system health visibility).

Familiarity with cloud/on-prem deployment considerations for live systems (monitoring, logging, configuration management).

Understanding of colour pipelines (linear vs display, HDR/SDR considerations, LUT workflows) and consistency across outputs.

Nice-to-Have

Interest in sports (helpful for context, not required).

Games background with demonstrable experience adapting Unreal for non-game, production-critical use.

Experience collaborating with Motion Graphics / Technical Art teams and building repeatable content pipelines.

What Success Looks Like

Unreal scenes and systems that are stable under live conditions, predictable for operators, and resilient to real-world data issues.

A clean, scalable integration layer between exar.live data services and Unreal behaviour.

Clear diagnostics and operational tooling that reduce risk during rehearsal and transmission.

Consistent rendering and performance that meets broadcast/virtual studio expectations.

This role can be worked remotely, applicants must be based in the UK and hold current eligibility to work in the UK. No Visa sponsorship or transfer is available.

Salary to £80k plus benefits.

CVs to simon.pittam@amiqus.com - Exclusive Recruiter