Senior Software Engineer, AI Team

San Francisco, CA

Role summary

Volley is a leader in the voice-activated entertainment space with AI at the core powering voice-driven games for our users including speech recognition and proprietary systems that build upon Natural Language Understanding (NLU). We are pioneers in leveraging generative AI for gaming with 20 Questions being one of the first LLM-powered experiences on connected platforms and we are actively expanding our portfolio. 

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer for our AI Team to join in helping us create some of our flagship voice-AI-driven games. You will join a team of engineers working across platforms including Roku, FireTV, and Alexa to deliver best-in-class voice-activated AI gaming experiences to our users.

Our AI team is at the forefront of our R&D efforts ensuring that we’re leveraging the advances in AI technology to deliver the best experiences for our users. We are innovating on fun, creative, new games and enhancing user engagement in existing titles by leveraging AI. You will partner with many teams and functions to ensure that we have appropriate data, monitoring, and testing tools in place and ensure appropriate guardrails are in place to deliver safe and fun experiences for our users.

We’re actively expanding our game titles and platforms and this is an opportunity to play a pivotal role in creating innovative, fun AI-powered games across connected devices.

This job opportunity offers a hybrid work arrangement, and we are specifically seeking candidates who are comfortable with on-site attendance in our Bay Area office three times per week and are either currently residing in or near the Bay Area or willing to relocate for on-site work.

What you'll do at Volley

  • Work on products that reach millions of active users
  • Develop best-in-class voice-controlled products that are social, engaging, and fun to play
  • Build machine learning systems and pipelines for training, shipping, and operating machine learning models
  • Contribute to our powerful internal engine that allows developers to build and iterate quickly
  • Architect and deliver solutions for our products that are reliable and scalable
  • Collaborate with UX experts, designers, and data analysts to deliver products quickly and effectively

Stuff you may have done before

  • Built consumer-facing apps or games at scale
  • Experience in Natural Language Processing, Audio ML, Signal Processing or Text Generation
  • Operated in environments with fast development cycles focused on rapid product iteration
  • Been part of a high-performing engineering team
  • Worked with audio, voice, or other emerging technologies

Must-haves

  • 6+ years of professional coding experience preferably in a Full-stack capacity 
  • Experience with or strong interest in modern NodeJS and/or Typescript or other strongly typed languages
  • Experience in Machine Learning or Generative AI 
  • Experience working on a product and user experience-focused software development team
  • Passion for entertainment and/or games

Our stack

  • React, Node, Express, Typescript: app/API development
  • Redis, DynamoDB, PostgreSQL, AWS Aurora: database and caching
  • Docker/Kubernetes: containerized shipping and deployment
  • Retool: front-end CMS for API we use to manage our content

Your first 90 days

  • Onboard into Volley’s engine and deployment infrastructure
  • Participate in product feature and roadmap discussions with your product manager
  • Familiarize yourself with the project architecture and lay out a technical roadmap
  • Deploy lots of new experiments, features, and fixes into production
  • Work directly with the product to improve conversion, retention, and monetization for some of the most beloved games in the world

The hiring process

  • Stage 1: (Preliminary Video Call) with a member of our recruitment team
  • Stage 2: (Technical Screen Video Call) with one of our engineers + (Behavioral Screen Video Call) with one of our engineering managers
  • Stage 3: (Onsite) with various partners and team members
  • Stage 4: (Offer)
  • Stage 5: (Founder Chat) with our Founders

What's in it for you

  • Your medical, dental, and vision insurance is 100% covered by Volley, for yourself and all dependents and we match 401k!
  • We offer a flexible, hybrid work-from-home and in-office work model.
  • We offer 4 weeks of paid time off (enforced 2-week minimum), 16 paid holidays, 40 hours of bereavement leave, and unlimited sick days.
  • Our generous parental leave policy includes 24 weeks at 100% pay for birthing parents and 12 weeks at 100% pay for non-birthing parents.
  • We offer visa support for eligible candidates, making relocating for the job smoother and more streamlined.
  • A full breakdown of our benefits is here!

For Pay Transparency: The salary range that we expect to pay for this position is $144,000 - $216,000 annually. This is a portion of the pay band for the role and level we are seeking. The final offer amount will depend on experience, education and skills. Base pay is only one part of the total package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work.

About Us

Volley is the leading developer of AI-powered games for smart TVs, Amazon Alexa, and mobile devices. Our games attract millions of users every month. Popular Volley games include Song Quiz, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune.

We believe voice interfaces will become the main way people access entertainment in their living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and cars. We’re building a bundled subscription product similar to Netflix or Spotify for the emerging category of “AI-powered games.”

Volley was founded by Max Child and James Wilsterman in 2016. We're headquartered in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. We’re a quickly growing team that truly enjoys working together. If you think you would enjoy creating joyful games on top of a rapidly evolving AI technology stack, please get in touch!

Volley believes in an inclusive workplace and is committed to building a team from a variety of backgrounds. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive the other benefits and privileges of employment.

Underrepresented candidates and candidates from nontraditional backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply!

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