Principal Software Engineer

Role Summary:

Volley's mission is to bring joy to our customers through AI and voice powered games. We believe that AI/LLMs and voice control can create new types of immersive gaming experiences and will become a primary way people access entertainment in bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, and cars. Our portfolio of games includes well known titles including Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Song Quiz and many others on smart TVs, Mobile and Alexa devices.

We’re seeking a Principal Engineer to help lead our technical efforts as we scale our technology and build out our next generation of platforms and services. This role is a unique opportunity to build AI powered software, drive a culture of technical excellence, partner with engineering and business leadership to solve deeply challenging problems, and mentor others across our talented engineering team of 50+ (and growing). Some of our current challenges include building a scalable best-in-class voice recognition and gaming engine for our current and future titles, harnessing LLMs to drive immersive experiences that are both creative and goal-oriented, and launching complex/3D games across the existing breadth of living room device hardware (including streaming).

We’re a small and diverse team that delivers outsized impact through smart technical investments. We’re looking for someone who is curious, pragmatic, and also a think-big creative problem solver. Reporting to our VP Engineering, you will have company-level impact and visibility across our organization. You will collaborate with executive leadership to understand and influence business goals, drive technical decision-making, and set//implement a standard of excellence for the broader engineering organization.

What you’ll do at Volley

• Work with company leadership and our product teams to inform a tech strategy that aligns with our overall business strategy
• Support the organizational growth and development of the team through process improvements and mentorship
• Dive into our tech stack and use learnings to establish and implement best practices for observability and stability
• Design and build cross-platform game engine features, tools, and SDKs for core functionality (rendering, voice recognition, etc.), enabling our team to deliver delightful voice-controlled game experiences
• Help drive build vs. buy decisions to enable our teams to focus on delivering the right strategic objectives
• Develop and execute on quarterly and annual roadmaps while making effective tradeoffs that weigh business priorities, user experience requirements, and investments in foundational technology

Stuff you may have done before

• Built and/or scaled 1 to N software platforms and/or engineering organizations
• Built consumer-facing TV, mobile and/or web apps at scale (games are nice to have but not required)
• Integrated audio/video streaming, voice, AI/LLMs and other emerging technologies into production software systems
• Been the technical lead for a group of 50+ engineers
• Developed applications on smart TV platforms (e.g. Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV)

Must-haves

• 12+ years of experience as a software engineer
• Demonstrated expertise building end-user experiences and scalable architecture
• Examples of successfully influencing technical and business leadership for investments that accelerated product development
• Experience driving improvements in operational excellence and software quality (including observability, reliability, code quality, automated testing) across multiple teams of engineers
• Experience mentoring and developing others through the Staff Engineer level
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

Our Stack

• Typescript & Node.js
• React & React Native (Fire TV)
• Brighterscript (Roku)
• DynamoDB,
• PostgreSQL, Redis

The hiring process

• Stage 1: (Preliminary Video Call) with a member of our recruitment team
• Stage 2: (Casual Video Chat) with Engineering leadership
• Stage 3: (Behavioral Chat & Architecture Exercise Video Call) with Engineering leadership
• Stage 4: (Onsite) with various partners and team members
• Stage 5: (Offer)
• Stage 6: (Founder Chat) with our Founder

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 $220,477 - $290,500 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!