Senior Infrastructure Engineer (Unannounced Project)

At ArenaNet, we’ve always believed that games are art. They have the power to communicate ideas and tell stories. They can change the way we think, reflect our cultures, and move us. As the developer of the award-winning Guild Wars game series, we’re proud to share our passion for the online worlds we’ve created with over 21 million players worldwide.

ArenaNet develops and publishes games for every kind of person, which means our games need to be built by every kind of person. We believe the best experiences come from working together, celebrating differences, and helping each of our team members shine.

We are looking for an experienced Infrastructure Engineer to drive ongoing improvements to our studio wide development environment and to evangelize to the team its value in improving overall efficiency for the studio as a whole. 

This role is the primary driver of the studio wide development environment. This includes overseeing and developing tools and pipelines around our build systems, source control, testing framework, game engine, and related tools and systems. You will ensure these are robust, efficient, and allow the team to work as friction free as possible in an always green environment. 

A person in this role will require outstanding team presence to keep the studio appraised of any issues with the build, updates on regular maintenance, improvements to team efficiency, and anything else that needs to be known about what may help or currently hinder the day-to-day workflow of developers.  

In this role, you are often the first line of defense when something goes wrong with the day-to-day workflow of the team. When it does, you jump on it without hesitation to provide help to whomever needs it, however big or small, with extreme empathy and patience.  

While this role is not a people manager role, it is a technical leadership role. As such, you will coordinate closely with other teams including IT, build engineers, system admins, services engineers, network operation specialists, QA, Release Management, and more. This includes being responsible for determining hardware needs for the development environment and working with IT and leadership to develop budgets for hardware purchases and software licenses. 

If you are excited to bask in the glow of the smiling faces of your teammates as they work in frictionless, frustration-free workflows and environments that allow them to spread their talented wings and focus on the creative core of game development, then this role is for you! 

About Our Team 

The Engineering team at ArenaNet thrives on a wide array of perspectives, experiences, and interests. We know that the best creations come from healthy and friendly teams. Our work is woven together with the efforts of other disciplines and crafts within game development. We seek out voices and ideas that might be new to us. We are always on the lookout for ways to help each other, both within the Engineering team, and throughout the studio as a whole.  

Who We Are Looking For 

You, our ideal candidate, are experienced with build pipelines, asset management, and game development workflows. You are proficient in C#, have familiarity with C++, and are experienced developing and configuring tools. This includes experience with Unreal Engine and its ancillary toolsets, such as Horde, Zen Server, Unreal Game Sync and more. Your experience with common workflow tools for game development such as Visual Studio and light Perforce administration is a given. 

You have a well-developed Spidey sense and can anticipate problems brewing long before they arrive, allowing you to get ahead of issues that may disrupt team workflow. When extra sensory perception is not enough, you also keep your finger on the pulse of the project by establishing and monitoring metrics. You are constantly listening to the team, their needs and morale to determine when workflows are not ideal. When they are not, you are comfortable working across disciplines to determine improvements or create new tools or techniques to enhance the development experiences, while continuously iterating and improving over time. 

You are a confident technical leader at the studio and are comfortable speaking with authority to the entire team about issues that have come up with our development environment, interruptions to workflow as a result, or to evangelize the value and cost savings granted by a robust build system, automated tests, pre-flights, and any other issue that needs to be communicated. You approach communication with teammates, especially those less technical, with extreme patience, compassion, and empathy, and understand that often these things are not obvious to most folks. 

Creating a safe and welcoming space for all members of the team to talk about their pain points, ideas, and efficiency dreams is close to your heart. Armed with that understanding, you are comfortable working with build engineers, system administrators, services engineers, network operation specialists and more to configure and build tool chains that meet the needs of the team and project and keeps the whole operation running at ludicrous speed.  

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent combination or education, training, and professional experience. 
• 8+ years of experience in the gaming or technology industry.
• Strong proficiency in C# with working knowledge of C++. 
• Deep understanding of computer science fundamentals, software design principles, and industry best practices.

Applications will be accepted until Friday, December 19th by 10am PT. If the deadline is extended, the posting will be updated accordingly. If the position is filled before this date, the posting will be removed.

Don’t meet every single requirement on this job post? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ArenaNet, we believe diversity in culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and backgrounds make us a better team – we celebrate it. So, if you’re excited about this role, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.