WE ARE GAME MAKERS
Who we are:
We are a diverse team of developers driven by a passion for our art, united by our core values and inspired by a culture of inclusivity to build amazing games that thrill players everywhere. We pursue growth and innovation in an environment of safety and trust. Our culture is built on the belief that the more varied voices in our collective will strengthen our team and our games. We are looking for our next teammate who will raise our bar and make us better.
What we need:
31st Union is looking for a Senior Director of Online Services to direct the live operation of our AAA free-to-play, cross-platform action game. Reporting to the Head of Technology, you will direct frontend engineering for our online systems and manage our Backend Engineering and Build Engineering teams. You are the principal technology partner to Product Management, delivering the features and pipelines to learn, optimize, and engage at runtime.
Responsibilities:
Leadership
Set the technical vision and roadmap for online services
Manage the Backend Engineering and Build Engineering leads and their teams
Live Operations
Own release management: cadence, patch and hotfix orchestration, and safe rollout
Own launch readiness and live health: capacity, scale and availability testing, observability, and incident response
Direct build engineering: CI/CD, submission pipelines, and automation
Product Partnership
Partner with Product Management and Analytics to turn product strategy into online services capabilities
Partner with 2K Core Technology teams to identify and manage shared technology requirements
Maintain and extend pipelines for experimentation and segmentation, telemetry and player insight, and remote configuration
Deliver engagement tooling: live events, offers, messaging, and store merchandising
Frontend & Online Systems
Direct development of durable, flexible, and performant pipelines and runtimes for frontend systems — including authentication and presence, matchmaking, social features, and commerce
Own player safety and anti-toxicity systems
Maximize development freedom for design partners and model best practices
Who you are:
10+ years of engineering experience, including 5+ years of leadership on AAA cross-platform Live Services games
2+ years of leadership in frontend systems for AAA cross-platform Live Services games
Experience operating a shipped live service — release management, incident response, scale and availability
Unreal Engine fluency — including core object model, referencing patterns, threading patterns, and core frameworks, specifically including Online Subsystem
Command of distributed backend architecture and of software patterns for maintainable, debuggable systems
Experience delivering experimentation and telemetry pipelines with Product partners
Nice-to-Haves:
Experience with Unreal Engine 5
Experience launching free-to-play titles, including commerce and monetization
Experience with player safety or anti-toxicity systems
Experience with publisher shared-technology and first-party partners
The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $227,700 and $337,020 per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations.
Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards and eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.
Regular, full-time employees are also eligible for a range of benefits at the Company, including: medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage; 14 paid holidays per calendar year; paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Company’s discretionary time off program; up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year; paid parental and compassionate leave; wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support; family planning support through Maven; commuter benefits; and reimbursements for fitness-related expenses. Ontario only: The use of Artificial Intelligence is not being used to screen candidates. The position is for an existing vacancy.
#LI-Remote
#LI-Onsite
#LI-Hybrid
Skills Required
- 10+ years of engineering experience, including 5+ years of leadership on AAA cross-platform Live Services games
- 2+ years of leadership in frontend systems for AAA cross-platform Live Services games
- Experience operating a shipped live service (release management, incident response, scale and availability)
- Unreal Engine fluency, including core object model, referencing patterns, threading patterns, and Online Subsystem
- Command of distributed backend architecture and software patterns for maintainable, debuggable systems
- Experience delivering experimentation and telemetry pipelines with Product partners
- Experience with CI/CD, build engineering, submission pipelines, and automation
- Experience owning player safety and anti-toxicity systems
2K Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid holidays, generous vacation or discretionary time off, sick time, and both parental and compassionate leave are explicitly listed in recent role descriptions. A company‑wide end‑of‑year break further expands the time‑off offering.
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Healthcare Strength — Core medical, dental, and vision coverage is paired with mental‑health programs and family‑planning support through Maven. HSA/FSA options and basic life insurance are also highlighted.
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Retirement Support — Eligibility for a 401(k) plan alongside an Employee Stock Purchase Program is consistently called out. These elements strengthen long‑term savings and ownership opportunities.
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.
