Role summary

The TV Games group at Volley is looking for a thoughtful and pragmatic product engineer to join our team. We’re building fun, casual, voice-powered games for the biggest smart TV platforms. Families are gathering around their TVs to shout out “What is The Olympic Games?” as they take each other on at Jeopardy!, or “I’d like to solve the puzzle!” as they play Wheel of Fortune.

We have big plans to expand our range of games, and the number of platforms we support, and are looking for a great Staff Engineer to level-up our game development engineering teams as we do it. We’re a small and diverse team that delivers outsized impact through smart technical investment, and are looking for someone who is curious, empathetic, excited to learn, and a creative problem-solver.

You’ll have massive impact across our product development group, partnering with company leadership and our product teammates to understand our goals, collaborating with our core tech teams, driving technical architecture and decision-making, and setting a standard of excellence when mentoring our engineers.

What you’ll do at Volley

• Scope and lead large technical projects that will have enormous impact across all game teams.
• Use your expertise to drive the technical excellence of the TV Games teams. Create the appropriate forums for cross-team learning, review, and decision-making that will help scale game development across platforms.
• Work with company leadership and our product team to inform a tech strategy that aligns with the overall business strategy.
• Support the organizational growth and development of the team through process improvements and mentorship
• Dive into production issues across multiple levels of stack, and use learnings to establish best practices for tracking and improving game stability.
• Develop and execute on long-term and short-term roadmaps. Make effective tradeoffs on the team that consider business priorities, user experience, and a robust technical foundation
• Collaborate with UX experts, designers, and data analysts to power best-in-class voice-controlled products.

Stuff you may have done before

• Built games, or consumer-facing mobile or web apps, at scale
• Worked with audio, voice, AI, or other emerging technologies
• Been the primary technical decision-maker for a group of 20 engineers
• Developed applications on smart TV platforms (e.g. Roku, Android TV, Apple TV)

Must-haves

• 10 years of experience as a software engineer
• A passion for end-user experiences, code quality, design patterns, and architecture
• Examples of successfully advocating for technical investments that accelerated product development
• Proven track record of learning new technologies and adapting to platform requirements
• A strong background in mentoring junior engineers
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

Our Stack

• TypeScript, React, React Native, Node, Express: app/API development
• Postgres and AWS Aurora: persistent database storage
• Redis: in-memory data storage and caching
• Docker/Kubernetes: containerized shipping and deployment
• Retool: front-end CMS for API we use to manage our content

The hiring process

• Stage 1 (Preliminary Video Call) with a member of our Recruitment team
• Stage 2 (Behavioral Screen Video Call) with one of our Engineering Managers
• Stage 3 (Technical Screen Video Call) with one of our Senior Engineers
• Stage 4 (Full-day Virtual “On-Site”) with various partners and team members
• Stage 5 (Founder Chat) with our Founders
• Stage 6 (Offer)

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 base salary range for this position is $189,477 - $260,531 annually, based on a local (San Francisco) hire. The final offer amount may depend on experience, education, skills, and location. Base pay is 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 Amazon Alexa, Roku TVs, and mobile devices. Our games attract millions of users every month. Popular Volley games include Song Quiz, Jeopardy!, and The Price Is Right.

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!