Senior Backend Architect: Cloud-Native Microservices Leader

Activision; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 146,000 - 270,004; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid holidays and vacation

Mental health & wellbeing programs

Free and discounted games

Job summary

Activision is seeking a Senior Lead Architect based in Santa Monica, CA. This role focuses on backend architecture across the Marketing Technology ecosystem, where you will define scalable technical patterns and mentor engineers.

The ideal candidate will have over 10 years of software engineering experience, strong Java skills, and a deep understanding of cloud-native architecture. The position includes benefits such as health insurance, a 401(k) match, and work-life balance initiatives.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time in senior backend or architecture-focused roles.
• Deep experience with Java or similar backend languages, microservices, APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture.
• Strong working knowledge of containers, CI/CD, observability, and infrastructure/security patterns in modern cloud environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve backend architecture for shared services, APIs, integrations, and cloud-hosted platforms.
• Lead architecture and design reviews for major backend changes.
• Establish engineering standards for backend development.
• Partner closely with engineers and SREs to troubleshoot and drive durable fixes.
• Design and improve reusable infrastructure and automation patterns.
• Mentor senior engineers on distributed systems and architectural tradeoffs.

Skills

Software engineering

Backend architecture

Java or similar backend languages

Microservices

APIs

Distributed systems

Cloud-native architecture

Containers

CI/CD

Observability

Job description

Activision is seeking a Senior Lead Architect based in Santa Monica, CA. This role focuses on backend architecture across the Marketing Technology ecosystem, where you will define scalable technical patterns and mentor engineers.

The ideal candidate will have over 10 years of software engineering experience, strong Java skills, and a deep understanding of cloud-native architecture. The position includes benefits such as health insurance, a 401(k) match, and work-life balance initiatives.