Level Up Your Career with Zynga!
At Zynga, we bring people together through the power of play. As a global leader
in interactive entertainment and a proud label of Take-Two Interactive, our
games have been downloaded over 6 billion times—connecting players in 175+
countries through fun, strategy, and a little friendly competition.
From thrilling casino spins to epic strategy battles, mind-bending puzzles, and
social word challenges, our diverse game portfolio has something for everyone.
Fan-favorites and latest hits include FarmVille™, Words With Friends™, Zynga
Poker™, Game of Thrones Slots Casino™, Wizard of Oz Slots™, Hit it Rich! Slots™,
Wonka Slots™, Top Eleven™, Toon Blast™, Empires & Puzzles™, Merge Dragons!™, CSR
Racing™, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells™, Match Factory™, and Color Block
Jam™—plus many more!
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in California, our teams span North America,
Europe, and Asia, working together to craft unforgettable gaming experiences.
Whether you're spinning, strategizing, matching, or competing, Zynga is where
fun meets innovation—and where you can take your career to the next level.
Join us and be part of the play!
POSITION OVERVIEW:
Zynga is looking for a client architect in the Austin, San Mateo, or Toronto
areas, and more specifically, someone whose level of experience should be
equivalent to an Architect.
We have a well-rounded and tight-knit distributed team with a healthy mix of
engineering skill levels, and are looking to expand our team to tackle a variety
of new tasks and challenges that we face. We need a self-driven and motivated
architect who is a strong leader, communicator, works well as a team player and
under pressure, and can assist with building resilient, stable and performant
front-end client technology. The candidate would have an opportunity to work on
user-facing gameplay features, core engine functionality, and have a general
focus on solving complex and challenging problems for high profile titles.
Our mission is to “Connect the World through Games” by building a truly social
experience that makes the world a better place. To be successful in this role
you will have a passion for games, a high level of integrity, great technical
depth and skills, and a strong desire to build successful software.
WHAT YOU'LL DO:
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Architectural Leadership: Define and own the client application's technical
architecture, including code structure, systems, data flow, and state
management
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Technical Design & Strategy: Translate high-level product and feature
requirements into clear, technical designs and actionable development plans,
ensuring the solution is efficient, stable, and maintainable.
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Performance and Optimization: Establish and enforce best practices for
performance optimization, framerate, asset management, memory usage, and
loading times across target platforms (e.g., iOS, Android, Steam, Web).
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Code Quality & Standards: Establish coding standards, conduct thorough code
reviews, and mentor other engineers on advanced programming patterns
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Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with backend engineers,
designers, artists, QA, and product managers to ensure client-side solutions
integrate seamlessly with other services and meet creative/functional
requirements.
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Tooling & Pipeline: Evaluate and recommend third-party tools, plugins, and
internal development workflow improvements to enhance team productivity and
the quality of the final product.
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Troubleshooting: Act as the final point of technical escalation for complex
client-side bugs, performance bottlenecks, and systems integration issues.
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Planning & Execution: Scope out very large tasks and systems, and coordinate
the delegation of that work; Lead month long efforts and participate in
planning for quarter long efforts.
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Evangelism & Mentorship: Give team and/or divisional tech talks on
architectures that you’ve built; Work to identify and help to improve team
and process inefficiencies; Help mentor and interview other engineers.
WHAT YOU BRING:
-
B.Sc. in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent education / work
experience
-
10+ years of professional software development experience, with at least 5
years focused on the Unity engine in a senior, lead, or architectural role.
-
Expert proficiency in C# and Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles,
with a deep understanding of design patterns (e.g., MVC, MVVM) and how to
apply them effectively in a Unity context.
-
Extensive experience with Unity's core systems: UI (uGUI/UIToolkit),
Profiling tools, AssetBundles/Addressables, Animation, and Shaders/Rendering
Pipelines (URP/HDRP).
-
Demonstrated experience designing and implementing scalable, performant
client network architectures for real-time multiplayer or live-service
applications.
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Solid understanding of software testing methodologies (unit testing,
integration testing) and experience incorporating them into the development
pipeline.
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Extensive experience with client error reporting and logging (Bugsnag,
Splunk, or equivalents), and best practices for gathering client telemetry
and prioritizing issues.
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Proficiency with version control systems (Git) and collaborative development
workflows (branching, merging).
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Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the
ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical
stakeholders in a highly collaborative environment.
-
Prior game development experience (shipped titles or live games experience)
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Self-motivated, self-directed, with proven experience researching,
developing, and optimizing for a variety of platforms.
BONUS POINTS:
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Hands-on experience with Unity's Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS),
including the Entity Component System (ECS), Jobs System, and Burst Compiler.
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Experience with advanced rendering techniques, custom shaders
(ShaderLab/HLSL), and GPU-side optimization.
-
Mobile development experience with a focus on iOS & Android.
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Familiarity with deployment and platform-specific optimization for Mobile
(iOS/Android).
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Experience developing apps for non-mobile platforms like WebGL, Facebook, and
Steam.
-
Knowledge of cloud services (e.g., AWS) as they relate to client-side data
management and live operations.
-
Prior experience in a technical consulting or client-facing solutions
architect role.
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A strong portfolio of high-quality, shipped interactive products.
-
Experience creating and maintaining build scripts and pipelines (e.g.,
Jenkins).
-
Back-end development
-
LiveOps experience, including managing post-release events and content
delivery.
WHAT WE OFFER YOU:
Zynga offers a world-class benefits package that helps support and balance the
needs of our teams. To find out more about our benefits, visit the Zynga
Benefits site [https://www.zynga.com/jobs/careers/#benefits]
The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is
expected to be between $163,400 - $241,820 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.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, which means we are committed
to creating and celebrating diverse thoughts, cultures, and backgrounds
throughout our organization. Employment with us is based on substantive
ability, objective qualifications, and work ethic – not an individual’s race,
creed, color, religion, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual
orientation, national origin or ancestry, alienage or citizenship status,
physical or mental disability, pregnancy, age, genetic information, veteran
status, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence or sex offenses,
reproductive health decision, or any other characteristics protected by
applicable law.
As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to providing the necessary
support and accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, health
conditions, or impairments (subject to any local qualifying requirements) to
ensure their full participation in the job application or interview process.
Please contact us at accommodationrequest@zynga.com to request any
accommodations or for support related to your application for an open position.
Please be aware that Zynga does not conduct job interviews or make job offers
over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, or others. Zynga
also does not engage in any financial exchanges during the recruitment or
onboarding process, and will never ask a candidate for their personal or
financial information over an app or other unofficial chat channel. Any attempt
to do so may be the result of a scamp or phishing attack, and you should not
engage. Zynga’s in-house recruitment team will only contact individuals
through their official Company email addresses (i.e., via a zynga.com,
naturalmotion.com, smallgiantgames.com, themavens.com, gram.gs email domain).
