Senior Software Engineer II, Performance (UE5)

Team Name:

Job Title:

Senior Software Engineer II, Performance (UE5)

Requisition ID:

R027555

Job Description:

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 Senior Software Engineer II, Performance to help craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As a key technical leader within engineering, you will be responsible for improving performance, reliability, and multi-platform readiness across our runtime and supporting systems within the Unreal 5 Engine codebase. You will partner closely with engineers across gameplay, engine, and tools to identify bottlenecks, build scalable solutions, and ensure we hit quality and performance targets across PC and consoles. You will also partner with design, art, and tech art members to evaluate the work created for the game and collaborate to ensure it imeets acceptable performance standards.

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.

Responsibilities

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

• Lead performance strategy and execution across UE5 runtime systems, identifying risks early and driving measurable improvements.

• Profile, diagnose, and optimize CPU, GPU, memory, and streaming performance to meet release‑quality targets.

• Partner with engineers and technical leaders across teams to establish performance budgets, guardrails, and regression prevention practices.

• Design and implement performance tooling, reporting, and automation that improve developer workflows and increase iteration speed.

• Improve platform readiness across PC, Xbox, and/or PlayStation by addressing platform‑specific constraints and performance characteristics.

• Define and promote best practices for observability, monitoring, and debugging of complex systems in development and production‑like environments.

• Communicate performance findings and recommendations clearly through concise documentation and cross‑team alignment.

• Provide technical mentorship to team members through design reviews, code reviews, and coaching that elevates engineering quality and shared standards.

Experience

• 12 years of professional software engineering experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Proven experience delivering performance improvements in large, complex codebases.

• Experience shipping at least one major Unreal Engine based title with responsibility for performance, platform readiness, or systems reliability.

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives across multiple teams without direct people management responsibility.

• Experience developing for PC and consoles (PC, Xbox, and/or PlayStation).

Knowledge and Skills

• Strong proficiency in C++ and familiarity with C#.

• Deep understanding of profiling, optimization, and debugging techniques across CPU, GPU, memory, and I/O.

• Strong understanding of performance measurement, regression detection, and continuous improvement practices.

• Experience building or improving tools and automation that support performance validation, testing, and diagnostics.

• Familiarity with observability and monitoring practices for scalable systems, including logging, metrics, and tracing fundamentals.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical findings into actionable next steps for multiple disciplines.

Key Attributes

• A team‑oriented approach to your work, with a focus on partnership and cross‑discipline collaboration.

• Strong ownership mentality and accountability for long-term system health and performance outcomes.

• Proactive problem‑solving mindset with comfort navigating changing priorities and complex technical tradeoffs.

• High standards for engineering quality, maintainability, and practical solutions.

Extra Points

• Familiarity with deployment systems and CI/CD practices, including infrastructure automation and release workflows.

• Passion for games and game development.

  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 video game 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 the 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.

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 $121,500.00 - $224,880.00 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. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.