Lead Software Engineer - World of Warcraft | Irvine, CA

Team Name:

World of Warcraft

Job Title:Lead Software Engineer - World of Warcraft | Irvine, CA

Requisition ID:R024256

Job Description:

We are looking for a skilled and experienced Lead Software Engineer to join the World of Warcraft Engineering team. In this role, you will lead a group of engineers on the Live Game Team working collaboratively with designers, artists, producers, QA, and other engineering teams to build and support engaging features as part of regular patch updates. These features include items like the following examples: 

• Quality of life improvements – Gear Update for returning players

• Perennial content - holiday celebrations like the Feast of Winter Veil

• New avenues for acquiring rewards - the Trading Post New twists on past adventures - World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria 

• Entirely new ways to play World of Warcraft - Plunderstorm 

• And more to come! 

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the careers of Gameplay and UI Engineers reporting to you.

• Provide overall technical leadership for the team’s work. This includes advising on system architecture and refactoring, creating or reviewing technical designs, reviewing team members' code, triaging and diagnosing bugs, supporting game updates upon release, and occasionally implementing code when necessary.

• Evaluate the scope and requirements of proposed features to help build a roadmap for future updates.

• Collaborate with the Live Game Team steering group, including Art, Production, Design, QA, and Product leaders, to identify features and content that best meet player needs.

• Mentor engineers on the team to provide technical leadership for individual features.

• Work with other teams within WoW to transition successful features from being experimental to evergreen.

Minimum Requirements:

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.

• Demonstrated capability for technical leadership on medium to large-scale features.

• High proficiency in C++ or a similar programming language.

• Strong technical design and software architecture skills.

• Experience developing in large distributed systems.

• Strong desire to hone communication skills and continually improve teamwork.

Extra Points:

• Experience directly managing a team of engineers.

• Knowledge of World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs.

• Familiarity with code and memory optimization in real-time applications.

• Understanding of client/server architecture.

• Experience with deploying and maintaining online services in production environments.

• Knowledge of relational or non-relational databases.

• Experience with software development methodologies.

• Experience with rapid prototyping and building shipping-quality features from successful prototypes.

Your Platform  

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World  

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [email protected]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics. 

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $121,500.00 - $224,880.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.