Careers at Epic Games
About Epic Games
Headquarters: Cary, North Carolina, USA
Company type: Developer, publisher, game engine vendor
Number of employees: 1,000+
Most famous products: Fortnite, Unreal, Gears of War, Infinity Blade, Unreal Engine
Epic Games was founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, who still runs the company decades later as CEO. Originally, Epic was solely a developer of PC and console games. But today, they operate game studios internationally, and develop and sell what is arguably the most popular game engine in the world: Unreal Engine.
Locations
Epic Games is headquartered in North Carolina, USA, and operates in several other US cities, including some game development hotbeds. But Epic Games is also an interesting company to target for your job search outside the USA, wherever you might live. That’s because Epic also owns game studios and technology subsidiaries around the world, giving them an impressive global footprint of over 40 studios in a dozen countries, including:
- Canada (Vancouver)
- China (Shanghai)
- England (London, Manchester, Sunderland)
- Finland (Helsinki)
- Germany (Berlin, Cologne)
- Japan (Yokahama)
- Scotland (Edinburgh)
- Serbia (Novi Sad)
- South Korea (Seoul)
- Sweden (Stockholm, Uppsala)
Working at Epic Games
Because Epic Games is a large and well-established developer and publisher, they can afford to pay game developer salaries that are higher than the industry average. They also offer employees an attractive benefits package to many employees.
However, because Epic operates in locations around the world, their pay and benefits package may vary a lot depending on the city. So be sure to check the job posting to see which benefits are available for any given job you might be applying to.
Employee benefits
At many locations, Epic Games offers these and other benefits to employees:
- Insurance: Health, dental, and vision
- Retirement plan, 401(k) plan
- Performance bonuses (quarterly)
- Maternity/Paternity leave
- Paid holidays and sick days
- Employee discounts at the Epic Store
Employee perks
In addition to above-average salaries and employee benefits, Epic offers these—shall we say, “lavish”—perks for employees at certain locations:
- Free lunches and snacks on site
- Pet-friendly offices so you can bring your well-behaved pet to work
- Company-sponsored social events such as happy hours and special events
Work life balance
Like most game studios and many jobs in the tech industry, work hours at Epic Games are pretty flexible. Employees are allowed to work longer or shorter hours per day as needed (within reason!).
But what about the dreaded “crunch time?” While there’s no explicit requirement to work extra long hours, in reality it’s common to work a lot of overtime whenever your product is nearing the ship date. Over the years, Epic has been infamous for overtime, even leading to some lawsuits by employees.
So if you have requirements to leave at a certain time every day, be sure to talk with your Epic Games recruiter or hiring manager before taking the job, to make sure the work schedules and any overtime requirements are right for you.
Search for Epic Games jobs
Because Epic is a large, international company, they have many different job roles in game development, business, marketing, finance, and other areas. Some of the most common job openings at Epic include:
- Software Engineer
- Game Artist
- Game Designer
- Game QA Tester
- Game Producer
- Content Manager
- Product Manager
- Mobile Engineer
- Talent Management (Human Resources)
- Tools Programmer
- (Many more!)
Epic posts their job openings to a number of different job boards, but you can find most of their openings at: https://epicgames.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Epic_Games.
If you’re a student, you may be able to get an internship at Epic Games. For details, visit Epic’s internship opportunities page at https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/students.
How to get a job at Epic Games
To find and apply for a job at Epic Games, follow these steps:
- Search for current job openings at Epic Games on Epic Jobs or other job search engine.
- Filter the search results to only the jobs that fit your field (such as game programming, or community manager) and location.
- Apply for the job and upload your resume using the provided form
- Upload or submit a link to your online art, design, or programming portfolio, if asked (optional).
- Wait 3 to 4 days for a recruiter to respond to your job application. Tip: If you don’t hear back after about a week, it’s okay to contact a recruiter using the information on the job posting.
- When a recruiter responds, work with the recruiter to schedule a video/phone screen.
- Next, you may be asked to do a longer series of virtual or in-person interviews with additional team members.
- Congratulations! With some hard work and a little luck, you’ll be hired to work at Epic Games.
For details and tips on how to search for jobs, apply, and interview at game companies, be sure to read the comprehensive Video Game Job Search Guide.
Epic Games: The bottom line
Epic Games is a large, international developer and publisher of video games and video game technology. They have many jobs available, both on game development teams, as well as support businesses like recruiting, marketing, finance, and community.
They pay above average for the game industry, and have strong employee benefits and perks—and they’ve also been reported to have excessive overtime when launching new or updated products. But if you’re passionate about game development and want to work for one of the word’s top video game companies, Epic Games is well worth looking into.
Read my new book!
Making games for a living is an incredibly rewarding career, but it’s hard to break in unless you have insider knowledge. This book levels the playing field.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am writing on behalf of my daughter Isha, who is a student at The Mary Erskine School, Edinburgh currently studying National 5s. Isha is interested in a career in computer gaming and would be grateful for any specific career guidance. She would also like to discuss potential work experience placement in the field.
Kind Regards,
Anu
Hi Anu, this article about job families in the game industry would be a great place to start. There are many different careers in the game industry, so it would be helpful for Isha to do some research on her own, to see which job families might be a good fit for her (programming, art, production, etc.). When she’s ready to look for work, here’s a link to some of the top game job boards.