At 2K, we create some of the most iconic and culture-shaping video games in entertainment, including NBA® 2K, one of the top-selling franchises in the world, and legendary titles like BioShock®, Borderlands®, Mafia, Sid Meier’s Civilization®, and XCOM®, as well as fan favorites WWE® 2K, TopSpin®, and PGA TOUR® 2K. We build unforgettable experiences by pushing the boundaries of creativity, authenticity and innovation across every genre.
Our portfolio is brought to life by some of the most influential game development studios in the world. Visual Concepts, Firaxis Games, Hangar 13, Cat Daddy Games, 31st Union, Cloud Chamber, Gearbox, HB Studios, and 2K SportsLab create world-class experiences across platforms. But what truly powers 2K is our people. We believe the best ideas come from teams that feel empowered, supported, and inspired. As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace where people are encouraged to come as they are and do their best work.
What We Need
The Core Technology group is responsible for identifying common problems across the company and building solutions to those problems. We fill our team with individuals who enjoy a challenge, enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, and want to take ownership and responsibility for products. If you are passionate about working in the game industry and implementing cool features for our game products, come join our team.
What You’ll Do
Empower and Mentor: Lead a team of engineers through consistent 1:1s, career mapping, and performance coaching to build a high-trust, high-output culture.
Development Process Optimization: Own and refine the technical development process. You will help the engineering staff optimize their daily output by establishing clear standards and workflows that reduce "toil" and cognitive load.
Modern Engineering Practices: Champion high-quality habits—including TDD, AI-augmented development, and documentation-as-code—to ensure the team builds right the first time.
Technical Quality & Mentorship: Cultivate a culture of rigorous, constructive feedback through code reviews and design discussions, ensuring these are vehicles for mentorship rather than just rubber-stamping.
Drive Engineering Initiatives: Lead internal-first projects like tech debt reduction, architectural refactors, and API standardization that keep the codebase healthy and scalable.
Low-Level Technical Oversight: Stay "close to the metal" by participating in architecture reviews and coaching engineers to ensure the team maintains high standards of performance and code quality.
What Will Make You A Great Fit
Leadership Experience: 3+ years managing/leading engineering teams, with a track record of fostering psychological safety and technical growth.
Backend Engineering Foundation: A background building backend services in modern languages (Java or Golang), with the depth to give meaningful feedback and mentorship on microservice architecture, API design, and implementation on a large scale platform.
The "Paved Road" Mindset: Proven ability to implement technical standards and development workflows that increase team velocity without adding bureaucratic "red tape."
Cross-Functional Partnership: Experience working closely with Product and Program teams to turn complex technical challenges into prioritized, well-scoped solutions that bring real value to our customers.
Strategic Prioritization: The ability to balance the "feature" demands of the business with the "engineering-first" needs of a healthy, modern codebase.
Gaming Domain Interest: A passion for player-centric technology, ideally complemented by experience building online services or backend platforms for game development.
Architecture & Scale: Hands-on experience with low-latency systems and massive-scale backend online services infrastructure.
Cloud Platform Fluency: Hands-on experience with public cloud environments (AWS, GCP) and a working knowledge of their core services and how to apply them effectively.
As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform their essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us if you need reasonable accommodation.
Please note that 2K Games and its studios never uses instant messaging apps or personal email accounts to contact prospective employees or conduct interviews and when emailing, only use 2K.com accounts.
#LI-Hybrid
Skills Required
- 3+ years managing engineering teams
- Deep background in software development
2K Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) plan and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan are part of the standard package as presented on the careers site. Employer-verified listings also confirm these retirement programs.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid parental leave, generous compassionate leave, and a companywide end‑of‑year break are highlighted alongside paid holidays and PTO. These offerings indicate broad coverage for time away from work.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Fitness reimbursements, on‑site/virtual classes, stocked kitchens, free or subsidized meals, commuter benefits, and dog‑friendly offices are widely cited, with some studios calling out mental‑wellness support like Headspace. These perks extend support beyond core insurance into day‑to‑day wellbeing.
2K Insights
What We Do
2K is headquartered in Novato, California and is a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO). Founded in 2005, 2K Games is a global video game company, publishing titles developed by some of the most influential game development studios in the world. Our studios responsible for developing 2K’s portfolio of world-class games across multiple platforms, include Visual Concepts, Firaxis, Hangar 13, CatDaddy, Cloud Chamber, 31st Union, and HB Studios. Our portfolio of titles is expanding due to our global strategic plan, building and acquiring exciting studios whose content continues to inspire all of us! 2K publishes titles in today’s most popular gaming genres, including sports, shooters, action, role-playing, strategy, casual, and family entertainment. Our team of engineers, marketers, artists, writers, data scientists, producers, thinkers and doers, are the professional publishing stewards of our growing library of critically-acclaimed franchises such as NBA 2K, 2K PGA, Battleborn, BioShock, Borderlands, The Quarry, The Darkness, Mafia, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, WWE 2K, and XCOM. At 2K, we pride ourselves on creating an inclusive work environment, which means encouraging our teams to Come as You Are and do your best work! We encourage ALL applicants to explore our global positions, even if they don’t meet every requirement for the role. If you're interested in the job and think you have what it takes to work at 2K, we encourage you to apply!
Why Work With Us
We pride ourselves on creating an inclusive work environment, which means encouraging our teams to Come as You Are and do your best work! We push ourselves creatively to do the best work of our careers. We’re direct, open, and you’ll probably meet some new best friends – along with their dogs – sitting nearby. In short, it’s kinda awesome.
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2K Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
We are a blend of onsite, hybrid, and remote roles. Please refer to individual job descriptions for more details on location.
