Senior Technical Director, Online Services

31st Union; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 228,000 - 337,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Basic life insurance

Paid holidays

Paid vacation (15–25 days)

Paid sick days (up to 10)

Parental leave

Compassionate leave

Wellbeing programs

Family planning support

Commuter benefits

Fitness reimbursements

Job summary

31st Union is seeking a Senior Technical Director of Online Services to steer the live operation of our AAA free-to-play, cross-platform game. You will direct frontend engineering for online systems and lead Backend and Build Engineering.

You will partner with Product Management to deliver features and pipelines that optimize runtime engagement. You will set the technical vision, manage teams, and own release management, scaling, observability, and incident response, while driving collaboration

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 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.
• Partner with Product Management and Analytics to turn product strategy into online services capabilities.

Skills

Unreal Engine

Frontend leadership

Live Services

Backend architecture

Telemetry pipelines

Experimentation

Job description

WE ARE GAME MAKERS

Who we are:

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 Technical 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.