Lead Software Engineer - Backend

About the job

If you want to build, develop, and see your impact, join Skillz and level up your Career!

Skillz, the first publicly-traded mobile eSports platform that hosts billions of casual mobile gaming tournaments for millions of players worldwide, is revolutionizing the gaming industry. By fostering social competition within games, the Skillz platform helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by enabling real-money activity in their games and providing operational support while connecting players through fair, enjoyable, and meaningful competition.

At Skillz, we understand the thrill of achievement and the satisfaction of overcoming challenges. Want to join a team made up of alums from Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Twitter (X), Roblox, Zynga, Samsung, Lyft, EA, Riot, Nexon, Gameskraft, PlayStation, Unity, Scopely, Tinder, Intel, Deloitte, EY, Twitch, DraftKings, Wynn Resorts and more? Learn more to see if Skillz is the right fit for your next career move!

Why Skillz

• Culture of Impact: Join a united team of builders, creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs driven by the desire to win. At Skillz, we create value, obsess over our product, and make a difference in the world.

• Comprehensive Benefits: Enjoy peace of mind with our comprehensive benefits package, which includes 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision expenses for both you and your dependents. Additionally, take advantage of our 401K matching, equity incentives, pre-tax benefit options, and more.

• Wellness Support: Enhance your well-being with our array of wellness initiatives, including meditation and mental health resources, physical fitness coaching and classes, family planning assistance, health and parenting guidance, virtual therapy sessions, and more.

• Time off: We offer competitive paid time off (PTO) & company holidays, including a company-wide shutdown between Christmas and New Years, to help you recharge and pursue your passions.

• Las Vegas Headquarters: Skillz strongly believes in a five-day a week, collaborative office environment at our 36,000+ square foot headquarters. Enjoy free daily breakfast and catered lunch, snacks,a full-size gym with showers, commuter benefits, insurance, team bonding events and many more. 

• Recognized Success: Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, CNBC's Disruptor 50, San Francisco Business Times' Best Places to Work, Forbes' Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000 list, and many more.

• Development Opportunities: We hold our employees to high standards while providing them with professional growth opportunities. We operate like a startup, and encourage all of our employees to collaborate and voice feedback about our product and ways we can improve as a business. We believe in never settling, and that also pertains to your growth. 

Responsibilities

• Report to the Engineering Director and spearhead the technical vision and strategy for the Platform / Server organization. 
• Your role involves shaping the technical direction for our engineering org, supporting the growth of our core business, and venturing into new exciting domains.
• Partner with the Engineering Manager to mentor engineers, uphold technical excellence, and contribute to critical hiring and architectural decisions

Key Competencies

• Software development experience in one or more general purpose programming languages such as Golang OR Java. 
• Knowledge of Computer Science fundamentals such as object-oriented design, algorithm design, data structures, problem solving, and complexity analysis.

Experience 

• 7+ years of professional work experience in Java and/or Go plus Consumer-facing applications (excluding internships).
• Proficient in working with cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Ability to work independently on application design and development, owning domains. 
• Experience with relational databases (such as MySQL, SQL, Postgre, RDS, RDBMS, sharding and data modeling).
• Experience leading and mentoring senior and junior developers. 
• Bonus: Experience in the Gaming Industry. Alternatively - experience with Unity and a passion for building services for games.
• Nice to have: Non-relational databases (DynamoDB, MongoDB), caching (Redis, Memcache), Kubernetes.

Requirements 

• Able to work in-office 5 days a week in Las Vegas HQ (relocation assistance available for brand new Vegas HQ).
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a technical field of study, or equivalent industry experience. 

Total Starting Compensation including Base + Bonus + Equity: $197,200  

Location: Las Vegas HQ - Onsite for 5 days per week

Join Skillz and Let's Redefine the Boundaries of Gaming!

Together, we'll create a world where skill, passion, and innovation thrive. We look forward to having you on board!

Skillz embraces diversity and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As part of our commitment to diversifying our workforce, we do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, gender, gender identity, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, veteran status, or disability status, and we operate in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.