Principal Engineer, Security - Game Protection

Activision•Los Angeles, CA

17h

About The Position

Your Mission Call of Duty is one of the most iconic and successful video game franchises in the world, delivering unforgettable experiences to millions of players. At the heart of that experience is fair play—and that’s where the Ricochet team comes in. We’re on a mission to detect and eliminate cheaters swiftly, ensuring every player enjoys a level playing field. As a Principal Engineer on the Game Protection team, you’ll be a key driver in designing and building cutting-edge systems that safeguard our game clients. Your work will directly protect the integrity of one of the most beloved franchises in gaming. What You’ll Do: Innovate and Evolve: Design and implement advanced anti-cheat technologies to stay ahead of emerging threats. Strengthen Core Systems: Analyze, update, and enhance existing protection frameworks to maintain top-tier security. Detect and Defend: Investigate, develop, and deploy cheat detection mechanisms that keep gameplay fair and fun. Collaborate Across Studios: Work closely with engineers across multiple teams to ensure seamless integration and performance. Why This Role Matters: Your contributions will help millions of players experience Call of Duty as it’s meant to be played—competitive, fair, and thrilling. You’ll tackle complex technical challenges, influence the future of anti-cheat technology, and make a real impact on one of the world’s largest gaming communities.

Requirements

15+ years of professional software development experience
Strong passion for delivering high-quality products
Proven experience architecting and implementing multiple versions of large-scale applications or services that span complex systems
Proficiency in C/C++ and Python
Ability to read and write x86_64 assembly
Knowledge of compiler theory and code obfuscation techniques
Experience working in an engineering organization with a focus on CI/CD, scalability, and automation
Advanced knowledge of algorithms and data structures
Expertise in optimization and debugging at scale
Clear and effective communication skills, both written and verbal

Nice To Haves

Game development experience
Deep understanding or hands-on experience in the anti-cheat domain
Familiarity with Call of Duty game architecture and cheat ecosystem
Experience analyzing cheat software
Professional experience in Windows kernel development
Ability to read and write ARM64 assembly
DevOps experience

Responsibilities

Design and implement advanced anti-cheat technologies to stay ahead of emerging threats.
Analyze, update, and enhance existing protection frameworks to maintain top-tier security.
Investigate, develop, and deploy cheat detection mechanisms that keep gameplay fair and fun.
Work closely with engineers across multiple teams to ensure seamless integration and performance.

Benefits

Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

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