Epic Games · Fortnite · Senior UI Engineer
Fortnite
Senior UI engineer on Fortnite.
Sole engineer on the HUD refresh, informal lead of the UI org.
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The scale

UI in front of hundreds of millions, and the team behind it.

Sole UI engineer on Fortnite's in-game HUD refresh, in front of hundreds of millions of players. With no assigned lead, twelve engineers across three teams looked to me to lead, and I gave senior architectural leadership to a competitive team of eight.

The reach

The numbers behind it.

Sole UI engineer on the HUD refresh, on a game played by hundreds of millions.

0
UI engineers led, across three teams
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Teams reporting up to me
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Contractors under architectural lead
Plus the department-wide framework for AI in UI engineering.
100M+
Players
The HUD, in front of hundreds of millions.
Sole UI engineer on Fortnite's in-game HUD refresh, working in low-level C++ and custom rendering code where the UI meets the renderer.
The engineering

Low-level UI, where it meets the renderer.

The HUD refresh
Sole UI engineer on the in-game HUD, in C++ and custom rendering code.
Real-time visuals
Custom rendering work for a live, real-time visual system.
A UI state debugger
Built a real-time UI state debugger with the tools team.
A reliability refactor
Led an architectural refactor of a major UI flow for reliability.
The leadership

I led the UI org without the title.

Twelve engineers, three teams
The UI org reported up to me through a hierarchical structure, with no assigned lead.
Architectural lead
Senior architectural and engineering leadership for a competitive team of eight.
Hands-on, still
I led from inside the code.
Department-wide

I set how the org uses AI.

The framework
Wrote the team-level framework for AI use in Fortnite's UI engineering.
Rolled out wide
Presentations and documentation that took it across the department.
I built Zipix's whole studio on this approach. See the deck →
The through-line

I lead before anyone assigns it.

I take the hardest surface and lead the team around it, with or without the title.

Josh Rutz joshrutz.com [email protected]