Software Engineer 5 - Android & Backend

Netflix•Sanger, CA

3d•$388,000 - $558,000

About The Position

The Kids Experiences team is part of the Games Player Experience organization at Netflix. We lead the development of Netflix Playground, a curated destination where kids can instantly jump into games and interactive experiences without friction or the concerns that come with open platforms. We are looking for a Full Stack Engineer (L5) who leads with Android expertise and is equally comfortable building the backend services that power what they ship on device. You will help shape how Netflix Playground evolves, from the native client experiences kids interact with to the application layer that makes those experiences fast, reliable, and safe. Our work involves large-scale A/B experiments, the WebView and JS bridge layer that enables web-based games to run inside native clients, and direct collaboration with game developers to define SDK and integration points. We partner closely with product management, experience design, game developers, and the broader Games Engineering org.

Requirements

Primary depth is Android. Build production-quality Kotlin or Java code with a strong point of view on architecture, lifecycle, and performance.
Equally comfortable on the backend. For this role, that means API design, service contracts, application logic, and observability at scale.
Understand WebView and JS bridge integration. Know how to build the communication layer between native clients and web-based games, and care about making that interface clean, well-documented, and developer-friendly.
Genuine curiosity about the game development problem space. The technical challenges of running games inside a native container are interesting on their own terms.
Comfortable with greenfield work. Netflix Playground is still being built. Can take an ambiguous problem, identify the highest-leverage decisions, and move forward without everything being specified upfront.
Actively use AI-assisted engineering tools in real work. Have developed strong verification habits, and workflow has changed meaningfully as the tools have improved.
Care about what ships to kids. Performance, safety, and correctness are part of how done is defined.
Build strong working relationships outside of engineering. Product managers, designers, and game developers are partners to communicate with directly and push back on when needed.

Nice To Haves

Swift UI or iOS development experience.
Game development experience with Unity, Phaser, Three.js, or similar engines.
Experience integrating 2D or 3D game assets into mobile experiences.
Experience building developer-facing SDKs where API is another engineer's interface.
Experience building for a kids' or family product surface.

Responsibilities

Design and build Netflix Playground features end-to-end: server-side APIs and application logic through Android client implementations, with contributions to iOS parity where relevant.
Build and maintain the WebView and JS bridge layer that enables web-based games to run reliably within native clients.
Define the API and integration contracts that allow game developers to bring their experiences into the Playground hub.
Build backend services for game discovery, user state, achievements, and session management, with a focus on clean API design and solid application logic.
Partner with game developers across the Netflix Games ecosystem to understand their integration needs and make the right tradeoffs in SDK design.
Architect code for testability and write automated tests to uphold quality on a fast-moving codebase.
Use AI-assisted engineering tools to accelerate your work and raise the team's quality bar.