Senior Software Engineer - Streaming & Systems New United States, Aliso Viejo, CA

PlayStation; Aliso Viejo (CA); On-site; USD 177,000 - 266,000; Full time

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment in Aliso Viejo, CA is seeking a Senior Software Engineer focused on Applied AI & Streaming to build AI-powered capabilities into real-time streaming. You will own features from design to production, optimizing latency and cost while working with a small, senior team across streaming and cloud.

Prospective candidates should have strong C++, production-grade AI experience, and the ability to turn models into usable products with robust telemetry and guardrails.

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Senior-level software engineering experience with a track record of owning complex systems end to end.
• Strong C++ skills from production codebases.
• Hands-on experience building and deploying agents or AI-powered features in production.
• A strong grasp of how to turn models into products, including context and prompt design, tool use and orchestration, memory and retrieval, model selection, and where inference should run.
• Fluency with AI-native engineering workflows.
• Product judgment. You can tell when AI makes an experience better and when it's a gimmick.
• The ability to work in ambiguity, move quickly, and keep momentum as priorities change.
• Clear communication, strong ownership, and a habit of making the people around you better.

Responsibilities

• Design, prototype, and ship AI-powered capabilities across our streaming platform and player experience.
• Apply inference and agents to real-time performance, player engagement, personalization, and accessibility.
• Use AI to understand, optimize, and evolve large existing codebases, including our streaming stack.
• Build and extend our platform in C++, and help shape the technologies and architecture we use next.
• Build what production AI needs: evaluation, telemetry, guardrails, fallbacks, and attention to latency and cost.
• Turn ambiguous ideas into demos and experiments, measure what works, and harden it for production.
• Work AI‑natively every day, using coding agents, automation, and rapid exploration, and help the team do the same.
• Work with a small, focused engineering team and with partners across streaming, platform, and cloud.

Skills

C++

AI-powered features

AI-native workflows

Communication

Ownership

Ambiguity tolerance

Product judgment

Education

BS in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Python

Rust

Other languages

Job description

Senior Software Engineer – Applied AI & Streaming – Aliso Viejo, CA

The vision

We think AI will change what cloud gaming can be. It can make streamed play faster, more personal, and more accessible, and in some ways better than playing locally. As a Senior Software Engineer on our team, you'll build agents and inference‑backed systems into a real‑time streaming platform and ship them to players. You'll work where AI meets performance‑sensitive systems, and a lot of the problems here are still being defined.

What you’ll do

• Design, prototype, and ship AI-powered capabilities across our streaming platform and player experience.
• Apply inference and agents to real-time performance, player engagement, personalization, and accessibility.
• Use AI to understand, optimize, and evolve large existing codebases, including our streaming stack.
• Build and extend our platform in C++, and help shape the technologies and architecture we use next.
• Build what production AI needs: evaluation, telemetry, guardrails, fallbacks, and attention to latency and cost.
• Turn ambiguous ideas into demos and experiments, measure what works, and harden it for production.
• Work AI‑natively every day, using coding agents, automation, and rapid exploration, and help the team do the same.
• Work with a small, focused engineering team and with partners across streaming, platform, and cloud.

You’re a great fit if you have

• A BS in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Senior‑level software engineering experience with a track record of owning complex systems end to end.
• Strong C++ skills from professional work in production codebases.
• Hands‑on experience building and deploying agents or AI-powered features in production. You've worked through evals, regressions, latency, cost, and the ways these systems fail.
• A strong grasp of how to turn models into products, including context and prompt design, tool use and orchestration, memory and retrieval, model selection, and where inference should run.
• Fluency with AI-native engineering workflows.
• Product judgment. You can tell when AI makes an experience better and when it's a gimmick.
• The ability to work in ambiguity, move quickly, and keep momentum as priorities change.
• Clear communication, strong ownership, and a habit of making the people around you better.

Bonus XP

• Python, Rust, or other languages used to build and serve AI systems.
• Low‑latency or on‑device inference, model optimization, or GPU experience.
• Real‑time media, game streaming, graphics, or video experience.
• Cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, or production platform experience.
• Experience building conversational or agentic experiences for games or interactive products.
• Linux or Windows systems experience.
• Japanese language or cross‑cultural collaboration experience.
• You enjoy playing video games.

Why join us

• Work on AI problems most engineers never get to. In real‑time systems, every millisecond counts, and so does every inference call.
• Help set the direction. Our AI strategy is still taking shape, and you’ll help decide what we build, not just how.
• Get real ownership. You’ll join a small, senior team where ideas go from prototype to production quickly.

Base Pay Range

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location. Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job‑related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top‑tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package.

$177,300 — $265,900 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice (where applicable) for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.