Principal Software Engineer, Zynga

• We need a self-driven and motivated engineer who is a strong communicator, works well as a team player, and performs well under pressure of tight deadlines
• B.Sc. in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent education / work experience
• 6+ Years of backend software development experience
• Expert knowledge in PHP or a similar programming language
• Experience with cloud computing (preferably AWS)
• Solid foundation in data structures, algorithms and software methodologies
• Excellent communication skills and comfort working in a collaborative environment

Desirable

• Zynga is looking for a server-side engineer in the Austin, Chicago, or Toronto areas, and more specifically, someone whose level of experience should be equivalent to a Principal Software Engineer
• The candidate would have an opportunity to work on critical game components that contribute to user-facing features, gameplay functionality, existing functionality & systems, and have a general focus on solving challenging problems for high profile titles
• Define, architect, & develop features and gameplay functionality in PHP
• Develop & integrate new technologies and tools (working with content teams)
• Dive into the internals of core systems to extend them as-needed
• Proactively optimize code & memory for high performance simulations with tight constraints
• Scope out large tasks and systems with minimal direction, and help with delegation of that work
• Work closely with other engineers to lead multi-week or month-long efforts
• Give team and/or divisional tech talks on architectures that you’ve built
• Work to identify and help to improve team and process inefficiencies
• Help to mentor other engineers