Backend Services & Gameplay QA Engineer

Onward Search is a specialized staffing and talent solutions company that helps professionals find top jobs with the nation’s leading brands. We’re hiring a Backend Services & Gameplay QA Engineer for a 12-month, hybrid onsite opportunity in Los Angeles, CA.

In this role, you’ll join the Backend Services & Gameplay QA Team at a leading video game company to ensure the reliability and scalability of backend services supporting the New Player Experience. You’ll also validate the functionality of related gameplay features, collaborate with external test teams, and implement strategic QA practices across multiple systems.

Backend Services & Gameplay QA Engineer Responsibilities:

• Guide an external Test Team by helping ensure the proper Test Suites have been made and executed on.
• Own quality for new player backend services: onboarding, tutorials, progression, entitlements, and rewards.
• Design and implement API and service-level test plans, validate end-to-end journeys (e.g., account creation, tutorial completion, reward unlock, client display).
• Identify opportunities to utilize automation for regression, contract, and negative testing and implement those tests.
• Debug complex service issues through logs, telemetry, and monitoring tools.
• Prepare for the release of these features by helping decide on and executing on strategies that mitigate any potential issues such as canary deployments, A/B testing, and load testing.
• Provide clear reporting that highlights risks and player-impacting issues.
• Help guide an external Test Team to perform evaluations effectively.

Backend Services & Gameplay QA Engineer Qualifications:

• 3+ years in Gameplay QA, SDET, or backend-focused testing roles.
• Strong knowledge of service-oriented architectures, micro services, and APIs.
• Skilled with API validation tools (Postman, Insomnia).
• Experienced with debugging distributed service issues (logs, traces, metrics).
• Gold rank or higher with an understanding of competitive gameplay and onboarding friction points, Diamond Rank or higher is valued.
• Past work on a Moba Game or any other live service competitive PVP Game.
• Experience testing onboarding/new player experiences or live service systems.
• Familiarity with load testing, contract testing, and canary releases.
• Hands-on with observability tools (Grafana, Kibana, Datadog).
• Prior work with AI/ML-driven features in QA contexts.
• Skilled with automation frameworks (PyTest, JUnit, etc.).

Perks & Benefits:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance.
• Life Insurance.
• 401(k) Program.
• Commuter Benefit.
• eLearning & Ongoing Training.
• Education Reimbursement.

*Eligibility requires working over 30 hours per week on an assignment lasting at least 10 weeks.

If you meet the qualifications and are excited about this opportunity, apply today! Our team will connect with you to discuss next steps, support you through the interview process, and advocate for your success.