Senior Lead Architect

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

Job Title

Senior Lead Architect

Requisition ID

R027666

Overview

The Sr. Lead Architect (Backend) is a senior individual contributor responsible for backend architecture across the Marketing Technology ecosystem. This role defines scalable technical patterns, guides implementation for shared platform services, and helps teams solve complex reliability, integration, and modernization challenges across web, identity, campaign, and service platforms. This role is based in our Santa Monica, CA office and follows an onsite work schedule of four days per week. Work arrangements may change at the company's discretion to meet business needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and evolve backend architecture for shared services, APIs, integrations, and cloud-hosted platforms, with strong emphasis on scalability, maintainability, and operational resilience.
• Lead architecture and design reviews for major backend changes, service decomposition, shared libraries, and platform modernization efforts.
• Establish engineering standards for backend development, including API design, service contracts, deployment patterns, observability, and operational readiness.
• Partner closely with engineers and SREs to troubleshoot production and platform issues and drive durable fixes, not just tactical workarounds.
• Design and improve reusable infrastructure and automation patterns across GCP and related workflows, including secrets management and service access patterns.
• Mentor senior engineers and act as a technical escalation point on distributed systems, backend performance, and architectural tradeoffs.

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.
• Ability to influence across multiple teams without direct authority and translate business needs into durable technical solutions.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance.
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching.
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave.
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others.
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

EEO & Diversity Statement

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, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Salary and Compensation

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $146,000.00 - $270,004.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.