Senior Software Engineer - Services

Posted: 3 days
Programming
Full-Time
Senior
Remote Canada or Can Work Pacific time zone
Job Summary:

A Thinking Ape (ATA) is seeking a Senior Software Engineer focusing on Distributed Systems to join the live service department (Leviathan) which actively maintains and develops 6 different live games with over 80k+ DAU (daily active users). On Leviathan you will be instrumental in building, extending, monitoring, and maintaining core systems across our microservice architecture that players interact with. These systems support Leviathan's extensive portfolio of games across which 80,000+ players engage with every day. You’ll be responsible for interacting with product team members to translate their designs into scalable systems that service our community.

Responsibilities: 
  • Build scalable systems for massively multiplayer mobile games that will support thousands of concurrent users.
  • Diagnose performance issues in large-scale systems, from translating customer issues into theories based on Application Performance Monitoring software to implementing/executing those theories promptly with validation
  • Create tools to automate and optimize processes across disciplines. These might include adding player management tools for our community team, data pipeline optimizations for our game designers, or event content pipelines for our art team.
  • Become involved in every aspect of product development, from design to implementation to playtests to metrics analysis.
  • Lead the technical investigation, implementation, release, and iteration of solutions to large-scale product problems.
 
Requirements:
  • At least 2+ years of previous work experience in backend software development
  • Experience building and working in distributed systems
  • Comfortable debugging and fixing tricky issues in various parts of the backend software stack
  • You have previously led and shipped at least 3 high quality features to thousands of customers that required use of distributed system concepts 
  • Extensive track record of architecting and implementing scalable backend services and systems.
  • Excellent written and verbal technical communication skills to work with a variety of stakeholders in different disciplines to translate requirements into buildable software
  • You can effectively communicate ideas into working documentation and technical designs that serve other members of the team
Key Competencies: 
  • Ownership:
    • Able to own a problem and dissect it into concrete actionable steps that are implemented while ensuring that timelines and goals are met
  • Collaboration
    • Significant work communicating with a variety of disciplines and stakeholders to take features to release
Location:
We’re working remotely; we’ll supply the equipment you need to do your work and to set up your work space. We have a flexible work schedule, three weeks of vacation, flexible sick days, and a generous health benefits package.  We are open to candidates outside of Canada, with the requirement to work in the Pacific time zone. Compensation is determined by role, level and location.

For candidates located in British Columbia: At A Thinking Ape, we believe in fairness and pay transparency. That’s why we offer a set salary for each level, ensuring that all employees in the same role are compensated equitably—regardless of negotiation skills or background. This means you’ll know exactly what to expect from the start, without the stress of back-and-forth negotiations. For candidates located in British Columbia, the salary is CAD$148,000 reflecting our commitment to competitive and fair pay.

What’s in it for you 
At ATA you’re offered a flexible, safe, inclusive environment in which you have the autonomy to do your best work, surrounded by a strong team and with the encouragement of supportive leadership that doesn’t just care what you’re doing, but how you’re doing. You’re trusted, respected, listened to, cared for and valued. You take on thought-provoking projects and tackle fun problems alongside people who are equally invested in making meaningful contributions and seeing new ideas come to life. You know how your work aligns with the company’s goals. Your career is given the space and resources to progress. You accomplish things that make you proud. You are compensated competitively, your health and wellbeing are top priorities and you enjoy plenty of perks. You build communities, take ownership, have wonderful arguments, let the best ideas win and keep growing. You don’t just work for ATA, you are an integral part of ATA.

Our commitment to inclusion
We build communities. To do this to the best of our abilities, we need a workforce that reflects the diverse player communities we serve. We believe a variety of perspectives and experiences allows us to make better decisions and understand the needs of our players. We work hard to create an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work and feel like they belong at ATA. 

Please consider applying even if you don't meet every qualification and let us know if you require any accommodations or support during the recruitment process. 
See our careers page or our short video to learn more about who we are and why you should join our team.

About A Thinking Ape

Mission: We build social strategy games that people play for decades.

We create mobile games with a social core that engage players and provoke us with creative new problems.

When we set out to make great games with massive online communities, we knew that we first had to create the ideal environment for building ambitious things. A place where brilliant and inspiring people could come together and build games that make millions of players happy. We realized that we needed to find incredibly talented people and get out of their way. Since then we've paid careful attention to how we like to work together. This is a brief summary of our guiding principles:

*OWNERSHIP: We take complete ownership of our work and act in the best interests of the company. We’re the type of people who care - a lot. It’s never “not my job.”

*HAVE WONDERFUL ARGUMENTS: We’re comfortable thinking deeply about important issues, and care enough to respectfully challenge decisions when we disagree. Mutual respect and checked egos allow for productive debate and better outcomes than any we would have achieved individually.

*THE BEST IDEAS WIN: We want everyone involved in problem-solving, regardless of their position. We frequently seek feedback from each other and our players in order to challenge our assumptions, and make data-driven decisions when possible.

*KEEP GROWING: We’re always building and improving on our skills and processes. We understand that when we learn, we see exponential improvement in ourselves, our products and our company. We’re never finished learning.

Together our values and mission are the driving force for why ATA exists and how we operate as a team. These cultural foundations are embedded in everything we do, especially in how we hire. We aim to hire people who share our values, believe in building communities and can add to our culture.

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