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AI Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment Engine Developer

Leah Nguyen

Full-time · Job · Los_Angeles

About the role

The ideal difficulty curve in a game keeps the player in flow state: challenged enough to stay engaged, not so overwhelmed that they quit in frustration, and not so under-challenged that they disengage out of boredom. Static difficulty settings set at the start of a session can't maintain that balance because player skill varies not just between players but within the same session as a player warms up, gets tired, or encounters a new mechanic. Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment adapts game parameters in real time based on inferred player state — tracking frustration signals (repeated failures, long hesitation times, error patterns) and boredom signals (rapid completion, minimal exploration, declining engagement) and adjusting enemy AI difficulty, puzzle complexity, or resource availability to bring the player back toward flow. We build game AI systems for 12 live service games. DDA is the most requested capability from game design teams: current implementations are rule-based and crude. You'll build the ML-driven DDA engine: designing the player state inference model from behavioral telemetry, building the difficulty parameter control system for different game genres, and running the reinforcement learning-based policy that learns which adjustments most reliably return players to engagement.

Responsibilities

  • Design player state inference model from behavioral telemetry: frustration, boredom, and flow state estimation
  • Build difficulty parameter control system adapting multiple game variables across different genre mechanics
  • Implement RL-based adjustment policy learning from player engagement signals which adjustments are most effective
  • Develop session-level difficulty curve management that maintains challenge arc across multi-hour sessions
  • Create DDA evaluation framework measuring player retention and session length as primary adjustment quality metrics
  • Build per-player adaptation that learns individual difficulty preferences from session history

Requirements

  • 6+ years in game AI or ML engineering with player modeling, behavioral analytics, or RL experience
  • Deep understanding of game design principles, difficulty design, and player engagement psychology
  • Strong Python and PyTorch skills with reinforcement learning and behavioral time-series modeling
  • Experience deploying adaptive AI systems in live service games with real-time requirements
  • Track record demonstrating player retention or engagement improvements from AI difficulty systems

Benefits

  • Fully remote with flexible schedule
  • Top-of-market compensation for game AI expertise
  • Comprehensive health benefits
  • $5,000 annual equipment and conference budget
  • Equity participation

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Categories

AI & Machine Learning Engineers AI Product & Strategy

Skills

python pytorch reinforcement learning sql docker

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Job Type

Full-time

Level

Senior

Language

English

Salary Range

$160k – $200k / year

AI Expertise

AI & Machine Learning Engineers AI Product & Strategy

Skills

python pytorch reinforcement learning sql docker statistics

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