Senior Interactive Engineer - Digital Gaming

Company Description

CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. It’s our heritage and it’s also our future. Because we don’t just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences and develop children through play. Mattel is at its best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard—when everyone can show up as themselves and do their best work every day. We value and share an infinite range of ideas and voices that evolve and broaden our perspectives with a reach that extends into all our brands, partners, and suppliers.

The Team:
Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends™, UNO®, Masters of the Universe®, Matchbox®, Monster High®, MEGA® and Polly Pocket®. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital gaming, and live experiences. Since 1945, Mattel has been a trusted partner, empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our games publishing business, where you can help develop innovative and engaging digital experiences that resonate with our beloved brands. If you’re passionate about gaming and eager to be part of a dynamic team at the forefront of family entertainment, this could be the opportunity for you!

Job Description

The Opportunity: 
This position is a technical engineering role responsible for helping support and drive the development and publication of video game products and contribute directly to the prototyping and incubation of new gaming concepts. This position has two main responsibilities - (i) Support the research and integration of third-party SDKs and supporting services for game titles in development, helping dev teams make informed technical decisions, follow best practices, and navigate development roadblocks for both game client and backend services; (ii) Be a hands-on resource to internal Mattel concept incubation and prototyping initiatives; providing software engineering expertise to rapidly explore new concepts and ideas. Join cross-functional multidisciplinary efforts to rapidly iterate and explore ideas.

What Your Impact Will Be: 

• Provide timely and up-to-date technical knowledge and hands-on expertise in support of games in development. Helping navigate technical roadblocks and ensuring best practices are followed.
• Point of contact with third-party SDK vendors and service providers to triage technical issues, provide hands-on integration support, reproduce issues, and work in-hand with game development studio teams.
• Be a hands-on prototyping technical and engineering resource to the cross-discipline concept development pod, being part of the virtual team responsible for exploring new ideas. Be assigned throughout concept development projects, acting as a shared technical resource for creative initiatives.
• Research upcoming game development and platform advancements, including new SDK releases, new hardware capabilities, and perform comparative analysis for specific problem domains.
• Provide timely, accurate, and professionally prepared reporting, including status updates, issue tracking, and technical analysis.

Qualifications

What We’re Looking For: 

• BA/BS degree Engineering / Games Development discipline preferred or equivalent work experience.
• 8+ years of experience in the video game industry, working hands-on on successfully published games, working directly within game development teams and support external (third-party) games development projects.
• Experience working hands-on with mobile, console, and PC platforms.
• Deep understanding of the video game ecosystem, games engineering and development trends, and video game design sensibilities.
• Experience resolving engineering challenges, investigating bugs and performance issues, and working hands-on with game development teams.
• Analytical thinking and solution-oriented mindset, brings industry best practices and disciplined approach to resolving mission-critical problems.
• Ability to pivot between schedule-focused production demands and collaborating across long term creative and prototyping initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong working knowledge of Unity and C# preferred, Unreal Engine / C++.
• Prior experience working with industry-standard tools, middleware, first-party and third-party services, such as Xbox Live, PlayFab, Bink, Satori and Nakama, Figma, Havok, Wwise, FMOD, Xcode, Visual Studio, GitHub and Perforce.

The annual base salary range for this position is between $112,000.00 and $170,000.00.
**This range is indicative of projected hiring range, however annual base salary will be determined based on a candidate’s work location, skills and experience.

Additional Information

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Mattel we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
How We Work:
We are a purpose driven company aiming to empower generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. We live up to our purpose employing the following behaviors:

• We collaborate: Being a part of Mattel means being part of one team with shared values and common goals. Every person counts and working closely together always brings better results. Partnership is our process and our collective capabilities is our superpower.
• We innovate: At Mattel we always aim to find new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. No matter where you work in the organization, you can always make a difference and have real impact. We welcome new ideas and value new initiatives that challenge conventional thinking.
• We execute: We are a performance-driven company. We strive for excellence and are focused on pursuing best-in-class outcomes. We believe in accountability and ownership and know that our people are at their best when they are empowered to create and deliver results.

Our Approach to Flexible Work:

We embrace a flexible work model designed to empower a culture of growth, optimism, and wellbeing, where every employee can reach their full potential. Combining purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility, our focus is to optimize performance and drive connection for moments that matter.

Who We Are:

Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, UNO, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, Monster High, MEGA and Polly Pocket, as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital and live experiences. Our products are sold in more than 195 countries in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies.

Mattel is recognized as a Great Place to Work™ and as one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2022.
Visit us at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.
Mattel is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer where we want you to bring your authentic self to work every day. We welcome all job seekers including minorities, females, veterans, military spouses, individuals with disabilities, and those of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Pursuant to the Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act, qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment.

Videos to watch:
The Culture at Mattel
Mattel Investor Highlights