Senior Director, Online Services

31st Union$227K — $337K *
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of engineering experience with AAA cross-platform live services games
  • 5+ years of leadership experience in frontend systems for live services
  • Experience managing a shipped live service including release management and incident response
  • Fluency in Unreal Engine, particularly Online Subsystem
  • Deep understanding of distributed backend architecture and maintainable system patterns
  • Experience with experimentation and telemetry pipelines in collaboration with product teams

Responsibilities

  • Set and communicate the technical vision and roadmap for online services
  • Manage the Backend Engineering and Build Engineering teams
  • Oversee release management, including cadence and safe rollout processes
  • Ensure launch readiness and live service health through testing and incident response
  • Collaborate with Product Management to develop online service capabilities
  • Extend pipelines for player insight, experimentation, and telemetry
  • Direct development of robust frontend systems focusing on safety and best practices

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage
  • 14 paid holidays per year
  • Paid vacation time ranging from 15 to 25 days
  • Up to 10 paid sick days per year
  • Paid parental and compassionate leave
  • Wellbeing programs for mental health support
  • Commuter benefits and fitness-related reimbursements
Full Job Description
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.

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