Senior II Backend Developer

At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations – only made possible by building a work environment that nurtures the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people.

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced Senior Backend Developer who thrives in solving complex technical challenges and driving backend architecture decisions.

As a Senior Backend Developer (Level 2), you are an experienced individual contributor with deep expertise in backend systems. You take ownership of critical backend services, driving their design, evolution, and long-term scalability in a high-load, distributed environment.

You operate with a high degree of autonomy on complex systems, making informed technical decisions and contributing to backend strategy through your expertise and problem-solving capabilities. You are comfortable working within large, complex codebases, identifying bottlenecks and optimizing systems for long-term growth.

Beyond coding, you act as a key technical resource within the team, mentoring other engineers, advocating for best practices, and collaborating cross-functionally to align backend solutions with overall business and game goals.

Join us and work directly on the platform team to help us craft a new game for Blizzard, hand in hand with our creative, art, and other tech teams. We can't wait to meet you!

Responsibilities:

• Act as a key technical contributor within the backend team, owning the design, development, and evolution of critical backend services.
• Design, implement, and optimize scalable, high-performance backend systems using Java.
• Own and evolve core APIs for player progression and in-game economy systems, ensuring reliable and efficient integration with game systems.
• Make architectural decisions that balance scalability, performance, and maintainability, aligned with existing frameworks and long-term goals.
• Lead the resolution of complex technical challenges requiring in-depth analysis and evaluation of multiple approaches.
• Influence backend architecture and technical direction within the team, contributing to medium- and long-term improvements.
• Identify systemic issues and drive improvements across the codebase, tooling, and development workflows.
• Operate effectively in a DevOps-driven environment, taking responsibility for deploying, monitoring, and maintaining services in production.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with game, platform, and infrastructure teams to ensure backend solutions align with product and business objectives.
• Proactively contribute to planning and technical discussions, helping define effective and scalable solutions.
• Provide technical leadership by mentoring engineers, guiding design discussions, and promoting engineering best practices.
• May lead small initiatives or projects, ensuring alignment and high-quality delivery.

Minimum Requirements

• Proven experience designing, building, and operating complex, distributed backend systems at scale.
• Strong ability to analyze complex technical problems and deliver effective, maintainable solutions.
• Experience contributing to architectural decisions and influencing technical direction within a team.
• Ability to work independently and drive technical initiatives with minimal supervision.
• Strong proficiency in Java for backend development, with the ability to implement and maintain scalable systems.
• Experience with NoSQL databases (e.g., Cassandra) and working with large-scale backend infrastructure.
• Experience with the Spring Framework for building, managing, and securing backend services.
• Experience in UNIX-based environments and proficiency with Git for version control.
• Hands-on experience with cloud technologies, particularly Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with CI/CD tools like Jenkins or similar automation systems.
• Experience with Gradle build systems for managing dependencies and builds.
• Strong communication skills to work effectively within the backend team and across departments.
• Ability to operate in a DevOps environment, monitoring and managing production deployments.
• Passion for gaming and the ability to contribute to fast-evolving, high-impact projects.
• Exposure to C# and the Unity engine.

Your Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment.  We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

 The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [email protected]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

 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.