At Turtle Rock, we make the games we want to play. We're dedicated to providing a collaborative environment where our team members feel empowered with the creative freedom to contribute and grow. While we are based in Orange County, CA, we support flexible work arrangements ranging from in-studio, hybrid, to fully remote throughout North America. Join our award-winning game development team and help create our next hit title.
We are looking for a Senior Network Platform Engineer to join our team and help build and operate the online infrastructure behind our next hit AAA title. In this role, you’ll take ownership of backend systems that support large-scale online multiplayer games. You’ll help shape technical direction, set operational procedures, troubleshoot complex production issues, and mentor engineers earlier in their careers.
This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys solving difficult infrastructure and distributed-systems problems and wants to have a meaningful impact on the technology behind a live AAA game. This position will report to the Networking Lead.
Responsibilities- Design, build, maintain, and operate large-scale distributed systems
- Own not just the code but the entire shipping lifecycle – the same team that builds services owns and operates them in production
- Integrate external APIs and services, including cloud providers and platform first parties
- Analyze and mitigate platform costs from design to continuous optimization
- Help guide engineering standards, operational practices, and documentation for internal teams and external partners
- Work directly with stakeholders in other departments to land new features
- Mentor and support junior engineers
- Participate in on-call or live-service support as needed
- Play the game
Requirements
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a focus on backend, network, infrastructure, platform, or distributed systems
- We primarily use Kotlin, but JVM experience is not required—tell us about the backend languages and tools you’ve worked with
- Proven database experience: traditional RDBMS, persistent NoSQL, and caching layers
- Solid fundamentals in concurrency, asynchronous techniques, and consistency tradeoffs
- Comfortable working in a Linux environment at the command line
- Security mindset at all layers: network, code, database
- Familiarity with underlying networking stack: DNS, routing, packet capture and analysis
- Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset
- Previous game experience a plus
- Prior experience working with Xbox Live, Valve Steamworks or PlayStation Network
- Cloud infrastructure experience: AWS, Azure, GCP
- Experience supporting live-service games or other live online platforms
- Experience working with CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment systems
- Experience leading the documentation side of live ops: runbooks, incident procedures, post-mortems
- Experience designing for global regulatory requirements in an online product
Some of the benefits and perks our employees get to enjoy, include:
- 100% Medical, Dental, Vision Coverage for you and your family
- Retirement Savings Plan Matching
- Career Improvement Plan
- Flexible Work Arrangements - In-House, Hybrid, and Remote
- Generous Time Off Policy
- Company Events - In-Person + Virtual Events
- Fully Stocked Kitchen + Sponsored Food Trucks
The estimated base pay range for this role is: $136,000 - $170,000 USD
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, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience focused on backend, network, infrastructure, platform, or distributed systems
- Backend programming language and tools experience; the team primarily uses Kotlin
- Experience with traditional relational databases, persistent NoSQL databases, and caching layers
- Understanding of concurrency, asynchronous techniques, and consistency tradeoffs
- Comfort working in a Linux command-line environment
- Security mindset across network, code, and database layers
- Familiarity with DNS, routing, packet capture, and network analysis
- Strong communication and collaboration skills
- Previous game development experience
- Experience with Xbox Live, Valve Steamworks, or PlayStation Network
- Cloud infrastructure experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP
- Experience supporting live-service games or other live online platforms
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment systems
- Experience documenting live operations, including runbooks, incident procedures, and post-mortems
- Experience designing online products for global regulatory requirements
What We Do
Founded in 2002, we are Turtle Rock Studios, a multi-project, award-winning independent developer located in the heart of Orange County, CA. We thrive in an open, collaborative environment which is led to this day by co-founders Chris Ashton and Phil Robb. Our past projects consist of AAA Competitive / Co-Op shooters: Left4Dead and Evolve. We're gamers who believe in iteration, so we work alongside our community to make our, and their, gameplay dreams reality. We are currently working on several VR titles, along with an unannounced project. We are always looking for top tier talent to add to our development team. To learn more about our team and culture, visit www.turtlerockstudios.com/our-studio/ For specific job listings visit www.turtlerockstudios.com/careers/
