Adjunct Assistant Professor of Interactive Media

USC Games invites applications for an adjunct faculty appointment to teach the course GLO – Games as a Service & Live Operations. This course explores the engineering, architecture, tooling, deployment, live-ops, analytics, and iteration pipelines for "always-on" game experiences. Students will work in multidisciplinary teams, using industry-standard game engines (particularly Unreal Engine/UEFN) to build, deploy, and manage live-service game prototypes. The ideal candidate is an engineering leader or senior technical practitioner with deep experience in game engines (especially Unreal), live-service game architecture, telemetry/analytics systems, and student mentorship in a production-oriented environment.

Responsibilities

• Teach one or more sections of the GLO course each semester, aligning with USC Games curriculum and industry practices.

• Develop and deliver lectures, labs, and workshops covering topics including:

• Architecture of live-service games: backend services, content pipelines, feature toggles, deployment, versioning

• Engine-level integration using Unreal Engine / UEFN: prototyping, iteration, modular content delivery
• Instrumentation and analytics: telemetry, A/B testing, player behavior tracking, data-driven iteration
• Live-ops workflows: events, downtime management, content update cycles, community feedback loops
• DevOps and CI/CD for game production: build pipelines, patching, server/client sync, monitoring
• Team collaboration across design, engineering, art, product, and community/marketing functions
• Guide student teams in production of live-prototype games (or live-service modules) that utilize live deployment, update cycles, and user feedback.
• Supervise and mentor students in technical decision-making, engineering bottlenecks, performance, scalability, and live operations.
• Coordinate with faculty and industry partners to incorporate real-world case studies, guest lectures, or tooling demos.
• Foster an inclusive, high-energy learning environment that emphasizes engineering excellence, creative iteration, and collaboration across disciplines.

Qualifications

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Game Engineering, Software Engineering or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree (MEng, MS, or equivalent) in a relevant discipline.

Minimum Experience:

• Demonstrated professional experience in game engine development, live-service game development, or large-scale interactive systems (preferably involving Unreal Engine or UEFN).
• Strong ability to teach, mentor, and communicate complex engineering concepts to students with a variety of backgrounds.
• Experience working in production pipelines, dealing with iteration, deployment, backend services, instrumentation, or live-ops workflows.

Preferred Experience:

• Professional credits on shipped games (especially live-service or always-on games) or demonstrated work in live game engineering, server/back-end, analytics, content pipelines.
• Familiarity and hands-on experience with Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), Unreal Engine, modular content systems, telemetry/analytics frameworks.
• Prior teaching or mentorship experience at the university or industry level.
• Practical experience integrating design, engineering, and live-data processes; understanding of communities, player economies, update and event cadence in live-service games.
• Commitment to bringing underrepresented voices into engineering and games.

USC reserves the "Adjunct" appointment for faculty teaching less than full-time at USC who are employed full-time in a primary profession or career elsewhere. Adjunct faculty typically teach only one course per year, but, in exceptional cases, may teach one course per semester, if approved by the dean.

The core salary range for this position is $34.00 to $40.00 per hour. This is an adjunct 25% FTE position.

When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, as well as external market and organizational considerations.