Senior Software Engineer (Backend) - Words With Friends

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 seeking a Backend Engineer in the Austin, San Mateo, or Toronto areas, with a specific focus on candidates who have a level of experience equivalent to that of a Senior Software Engineer.

We have a well-rounded and tight-knit team, distributed across various locations, with a healthy mix of engineering skill levels, and we are looking to strengthen our team. We are seeking a self-driven and motivated engineer who is a strong communicator, works well as a team player, and performs effectively under pressure from tight deadlines. The candidate will have the opportunity to work on user-facing features (including UI / UX), core gameplay functionality, various systems, and generally solve challenging problems for high-profile mobile games. On the backend, our servers and APIs support the mobile games that tens of millions of users enjoy every day. We support some of the world's largest mobile games on some of the world's largest infrastructures. Our servers and APIs help the mobile games that tens of millions of users enjoy every day, including Words With Friends. As a Backend Engineer, you'll develop and architect critical game components and systems that directly relate to the success of our games.

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 :

• Define, architect, develop & maintain features and gameplay functionality in RoR, C# on the backend
• Support live-ops and deployments on a rotational basis
• Develop robust and scalable APIs and server-side logic using languages such as C# or Ruby on Rails.
• Design and implement database schemas and manage data storage solutions (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL).
• Deploy and maintain applications on cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• Write unit and integration tests to ensure code quality and perform thorough debugging.
• Participate in code reviews to ensure code quality and share knowledge with other team members.
• Proactively optimize code & memory for high-performance simulations with tight constraints
• Develop & integrate new technologies and tools (working with content teams)
• Work closely with product managers, designers, and other engineers to understand requirements and deliver solutions.
• Create and maintain clear and concise technical documentation.
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks in both front-end and back-end systems.
• Mentor junior engineers and guide best practices and technical solutions.
• Participate in technical design discussions and contribute to architectural decisions.
• Identify opportunities to improve the team's development processes and workflows.

What You Bring :

Bonus Points :

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

The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $98,400 and $145,620 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).

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