Senior Software Engineer, Zynga
CA$96.4-130k
Social game developer
Be an early applicant
Social game developer
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
CA$96.4-130k
1001+ employees
Company mission
To connect the world through games.
Role
Who you are
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, or related technical discipline (or equivalent)
- 6+ years of professional experience in software development
- Extensive experience designing front-end architecture, optimizing web performance
- Proficiency in web technologies, including HTML5, CSS3
- Expertise in modern JavaScript (ES6+)
- Strong background in 2D HTML5 game frameworks like Phaser or CreateJS
- Experience with 2D and 3D JS frameworks such as PixiJS, and ThreeJS
- Strong understanding of 2D/3D coordinate systems, geometry, vector math, and pixel-level manipulation (ImageData)
- Experience working directly with the HTML5 Canvas API to render and manipulate shapes, text, and images
- Proficiency in managing complex render loops, frame rates (FPS), and animations via requestAnimationFrame
- Experience with Responsive Web Design and creating fluid layouts that work flawlessly across mobile, tablet, and desktop screens
- Experience with asset management building efficient loading pipelines for preloading, caching, and optimizing game assets (spritesheets, audio sprites, JSON data)
- Experience with Photoshop is highly preferred
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to interface with senior leadership with confidence and clarity
What the job involves
- The Senior Software Engineer on the Ad Monetization team is responsible for bringing interactive advertising experiences to life (such as mini-games, surveys, and more) by transforming approved creative concepts into polished, high-performing ad units
- Working closely with engineers, creative leads, and cross-functional partners, this individual owns the technical execution of each experience from implementation through deployment, ensuring every build is reliable, performant, visually polished, and ready for production
- Build high-quality playable ads and interactive creative units from approved storyboards, design assets, and creative briefs
- Implement gameplay mechanics, interactive behaviors, transitions, animations, and other UX elements to ensure a seamless user experience
- Integrate creative assets supplied by designers and ensure they display and perform as intended across supported environments
- Optimize experiences for performance, responsiveness, file size, and reliability while maintaining creative quality
- Implement tracking, analytics, and event instrumentation required to measure creative performance
- Perform thorough self-QA to identify and resolve issues before handoff, delivering production-ready builds with minimal oversight
- Take ownership of assigned projects from technical kickoff through final delivery
- Proactively identify opportunities to improve workflows, implementation efficiency, and build quality
- Consistently deliver dependable, high-quality work while meeting project timelines and production commitments
Our take
Zynga is a games developer that rode Facebook's platform to success back in the late noughties and early 2010's. It is now one of the biggest casual game producers globally, with a presence across over 170 countries and regions and millions of monthly active users.
Though the company hit a number of roadblocks after its initial success - such as falling stock prices, and numerous calls it was copying other games - its subsequent resurgence is proof of its staying power. It continues to use social media as a distribution channel, and boasts titles such as FarmVille, Merge Dragons! and Words With Friends.
Future success will lie in the company's continued investment in building viral games that people love. It will also need to attune to the social media waves and keep track of where users can be found, as the landscape has become more mobile. In 2024 the company announced it was developing push notifications that enable gameplay without entering the application, which will be an interesting addition to its outputs.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
7% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Mar 2011
$490m
SERIES C
Oct 2010
$6.3m
EARLY VC
Total funding: $865.5m
Company benefits
- COMPENSATION - Performance bonuses, opportunities for equity participation & retirement/pension savings support
- HEALTH - Medical, dental & vision covered for employees, with participation for employees eligible dependents, plus disability and life insurance program
- FAMILY - Generous parental leave for birth parents, partners and adoptive families, plus Infertility support, emergency child care and flexible time-off policies
- WELLNESS - Gym benefits, wellness programs, employee assistance programs and generous time-off policies
- FOOD - Food and snacks made in-house or delivered, healthy snack kitchens with drinks and treats, coffee bars, regular social gatherings and happy hours
- WORK & LIFE - Flexible time-off policies (DTO), office rest areas, gaming spaces, employee discounts and more
- TRANSIT BENEFITS - Shuttle service in select locations, commuter/parking benefits, secure bicycle storage, business travel assistance
- RESOURCE GROUPS - Women at Zynga (WAZ), zCares charitable giving, zParents, zEndurance adventure club, BZU, zPride LGBTQ+ inclusion and belonging
Company HQ
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Mark Pincus
(Chairman & Co-founder)Previously founder and CEO of Freeloader, Supportsoft and Tribe.net, an early social network
Michael Luxton
(Co-founder)Previously an engineer at NetApp
Salary benchmarks
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