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.

As a Principal Gameplay Systems Engineer, you will collaborate with designers and artists to define a technical vision and deliver best-in-class game systems. You will support the development of core game systems as well as collaborate in driving improvements in the underlying engine technology. You will work collaboratively with the team to define and execute a technical vision that meets the project’s needs.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

What you bring to the table:

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

Leveraging your experience and knowledge to deliver best-in-class player experiences, from end to end, within the constraints of game simulation and AAA production scale.
Empowering designers, artists, and other engineers to deliver the vision of the game and ensuring we delight and entertain our players.
Collaborating with designers and engineers on gameplay teams to learn and understand their needs and offer technical solutions.
Optimizing team productivity by supporting content-creation pipelines, tool development, and workflow improvements.
Championing Blizzard’s core values.

Minimum Requirements

Experience

9+ years of experience in gameplay systems engineering or a combination of applicable training and experience.
Experience creating compelling player experiences at AAA quality, including game world simulation, objectives, mission progression, interactables, UX, cinematic elements, etc.
Experience building comprehensive content iteration and debugging workflows to achieve creative vision in a productive, scalable manner, including at least one shipped game.

Knowledge & Skills

The ability to understand and write production-grade C++ code.

The capacity to make frequent, readable, well-tested code commits.
The ability to communicate and articulate vision, ideas, learnings from others, and to give meaningful feedback.
Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.
Experience analyzing game features and content for performance and optimizing the game to release quality.
Experience working closely in multi-disciplinary teams with people of diverse mindsets.
Mentorship mindset and excellent attitude to helping others level up their knowledge.

Extra Points

Experience

Computer science, mathematics, physics, or related degree.
Experience developing and shipping AAA game titles for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles.

Knowledge & Skills

Experience working on 3D action multiplayer games.
Experience with large codebase.

Key Attributes

Passion for gameplay development, especially for the quality of player engagement and immersion.

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 innovative 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 accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. 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.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $146,000.00 - $270,004.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed.