Senior Director, Online Services

31st Union; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 227,700 - 337,020; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Paid holidays

Paid vacation

Parental leave

Wellbeing programs

Commuter benefits

Fitness reimbursements

Job summary

31st Union is seeking a Senior Director of Online Services to lead the live operation of our AAA free-to-play, cross-platform title from California. You will direct frontend engineering for online systems and manage Backend and Build Engineering teams, partnering with Product Management to drive runtime features and optimization.

You will own release orchestration, live health, and CI/CD pipelines, while partnering with 2K Core Technology for shared tech requirements and experimentation

Qualifications

• 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

Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and roadmap for online services
• Manage the Backend Engineering and Build Engineering leads and their teams
• 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
• 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
• 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

Skills

Engineering leadership

Frontend systems leadership

Unreal Engine fluency

Distributed backend architecture

Telemetry pipelines

Product partnerships

Release management

Tools

Unreal Engine

Online Subsystem

Job description

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.

As part of 2K’s commitment to maintaining a workplace culture of inclusion and respect, we aim to find opportunities to improve our diversity and inclusion practices and resources. We hope that you will help us achieve this goal by voluntarily disclosing your demographic information.

Whether you choose to disclose this information is entirely your decision. You will not be treated any differently based on your choice.

Any information you provide will be confidential, kept securely, and will not be used to make any employment-related decisions. More information about how 2K handles your personal data is available at 2K privacy link.

Finally, as a reminder, 2K is an equal employment opportunity employer. 2K does not discriminate, harass, or retaliate against individuals based on any protected characteristic. If you have any questions about this policy, please connect with [e-mail] for support.

Thank you for your help!

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