Manticore Games · Lead Engineer & Engineering Manager
Manticore
Lead engineer, then engineering manager.
Promoted to lead in my first year. Then I built the team.
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The through-line

I build teams and systems that hold when the plan changes.

Promoted to lead in my first year. I grew a gameplay team from four to seven and held it through a round of layoffs. I pushed for generic systems that later absorbed two full design pivots without a rewrite.

Three years, one studio

What it added up to.

Client-side gameplay on Unreal Engine, 2021 to 2024.

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Engineers led, grown from four
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Engineers promoted from within the team
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Design pivots absorbed, no rewrite
A fifty-fifty split of management and hands-on Unreal Engine C++.
4 → 7
Engineers led
I led the client-side gameplay team.
Three years on a live Unreal Engine title, leading the engineers who built how it played, and steering them through layoffs and onboarding without losing delivery.
The team

I grew the team and held it together.

Four to seven
Grew the gameplay team and kept it delivering as it scaled.
Through the layoffs
Held the team together through a round of cuts and the onboarding after.
Promoted three
Three engineers moved up from inside the team.
Mentored more than five
Hands-on technical growth, one engineer at a time.
The systems

Generic systems that outlasted the plan.

Built generic
Gameplay systems built for the general case, so new features dropped in.
Two pivots, no rewrite
Those systems absorbed two full design pivots without one.
Code-review culture
Architectural clarity as the standard the team held to.
The seat

Lead in year one, a peer to the backend director.

Client-side gameplay lead
I led the client-side UE5 gameplay engineering.
Peer to the Director of Backend Engineering
His frontend counterpart, both of us reporting to the CTO.
Fifty-fifty
Half managing, half writing Unreal C++. I never left the code.
Strategy to the C-suite
Client tech strategy and architectural proposals to the executives.
The through-line

The way I'll build the next team.

Promote from within, build systems that outlast the plan, and never leave the code.

Josh Rutz joshrutz.com [email protected]