Your MissionDemonware is looking for a talented new Principal Software Engineer to join our Matchmaking team!As part of the team, you’ll be responsible for developing and operating the services that get our players into great games, optimizing the experience for engagement, fairness, and fun.You’ll partner closely with studio engineers, data scientists, and product managers to evolve our matchmaking algorithms at massive scale, while delivering continuous improvements to player experience through innovation, data-driven iteration, and operational excellence.We’re looking for someone who is a senior technical contributor that will be responsible for architecting, building, and optimizing those large-scale matchmaking systems, and who will lead high-impact initiatives from design to deployment, guide experimentation frameworks, and ensure our systems meet stringent reliability, scalability, and performance goals.What you bring to the table Partner with studios to architect, implement, and operate scalable, low-latency matchmaking services that handle millions of players daily.Lead design discussions, code reviews, and technical deep dives to maintain engineering excellence.Champion best practices in service architecture, performance optimization, and fault tolerance.Collaborate with data scientists to implement and operate A/B tests and analyze player experience metrics.Integrate real-time feedback loops and machine learning signals into matchmaking decision-making.Own services end-to-end: from development to deployment, monitoring, and incident response.Define and track SLOs, SLIs, and KPIs for matchmaking performance and player experience.Mentor and coach engineers across the matchmaking and wider Demonware engineering community.Player ProfileMinimum Requirements:15+ years of professional software development experience, with a track record of delivering large-scale distributed systems.Expertise in at least one backend language (Python preferred) and experienced with modern service frameworks and orchestration tools (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker).Expertise in C++.Proven ability to design, optimize, and operate real-time, high-throughput, low-latency systems.Strong background in algorithms, data structures, and performance tuning.Experience in experimentation platforms, heuristic optimization, or machine learning in production systems.Deep understanding of networking fundamentals, including latency management and connection quality metrics.Skilled in monitoring, observability, and incident response for production services.Extra Points:Experience with matchmaking systems or large-scale game services.Experience with game engines (Unreal Engine, Unity, etc.).Experience with Machine Learning and Data Analytics.Familiarity with multi-objective optimization, reinforcement learning, or similar advanced techniques.Your PlatformDemonware is a member of the Activision family of studios. We work alongside engineers and creatives at our AAA partner studios and deliver the online and data services required by our massive franchises. We have launched well over 100 games, and our services connect multiple millions of players each day into epic entertainment experiences.While Call of Duty continues to push us to build bigger and better systems year on year, we also have a strong history of supporting great franchises such as Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot, Destiny, Diablo, Guitar Hero, and Skylanders.Our success comes from our talented and passionate people. Our work environment is welcoming and collaborative, we deliver on time and at scale.Our WorldAt Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We’re driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Tony Hawk’s™ Pro Skater™, and Guitar Hero®. As a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and products, our “press start” is simple: delight hundreds of millions of players around the world with innovative, fun, thrilling, and engaging entertainment experiences.