Senior Software Engineer (Server/Full-stack) - Hit It Rich!

Level Up Your Career with Zynga!

At Zynga, we bring people together through the power of play. As a global leader in interactive entertainment and a proud label of Take-Two Interactive, our games have been downloaded over 6 billion times—connecting players in 175+ countries through fun, strategy, and a little friendly competition.

From thrilling casino spins to epic strategy battles, mind-bending puzzles, and social word challenges, our diverse game portfolio has something for everyone. Fan-favorites and latest hits include FarmVille™, Words With Friends™, Zynga Poker™, Game of Thrones Slots Casino™, Wizard of Oz Slots™, Hit it Rich! Slots™, Wonka Slots™, Top Eleven™, Toon Blast™, Empires & Puzzles™, Merge Dragons!™, CSR Racing™, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells™, Match Factory™, and Color Block Jam™—plus many more!

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in California, our teams span North America, Europe, and Asia, working together to craft unforgettable gaming experiences. Whether you're spinning, strategizing, matching, or competing, Zynga is where fun meets innovation—and where you can take your career to the next level.

Join us and be part of the play!

Position Overview:

Zynga is looking for a server-side engineer in the Austin or Chicago areas, and more specifically, someone whose level of experience should be equivalent to a Senior Software Engineer.

We have a well-rounded and tight-knit, distributed team with a healthy mix of engineering skill levels, and are looking to strengthen our team in tackling a variety of challenges that we face. We need a self-driven and motivated engineer who is a strong communicator, works well as a team player, and performs well under tight deadlines.

The candidate would have an opportunity to work on critical game components that contribute to user-facing features, gameplay functionality, existing functionality & systems, and have a general focus on solving challenging problems for high profile titles. The ideal candidate will have strong working knowledge in PHP and will have at least four years of experience as a software developer.

Our mission is to “Connect the World through Games” by building a truly social experience that makes the world a better place. To be successful in this role you will have a passion for games, a high level of integrity, great technical depth and skills, and a strong desire to build successful software.

What You'll Do:

• Help to develop features & gameplay functionality in PHP
• Dive into the internals of existing systems to extend them as-needed
• Create and work with data objects in relational and non-relational storage models
• Develop and integrate new technologies and tools
• Assist with defining and scoping out work

What You Bring:

• B.Sc. in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent education / work experience
• 4+ Years industry experience as a Software Developer
• Strong working knowledge in an object-oriented backend language like PHP
• Solid foundation in data structures, algorithms and software methodologies
• Excellent communication skills and comfort working in a collaborative environment

Bonus Points:

• Prior game development experience (on shipped titles or live games experience)
• Mobile development experience with a focus on Unity, iOS, and/or Android
• Experience in Javascript, Go, or similar programming languages
• Experience with Source Control like git

What We Offer You :

Zynga offers a world-class benefits package that helps support and balance the needs of our teams. To find out more about our benefits, visit the Zynga Benefits site

The pay range for this position in Illinois at the start of employment is expected to be between $98,100 and $145,200 per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations.

Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards and eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Regular, full-time employees are also eligible for a range of benefits at the Company, including: medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage; 14 paid holidays per calendar year; paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Company’s discretionary time off program; up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year; paid parental and compassionate leave; wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support; family planning support through Maven; commuter benefits; and reimbursements for fitness-related expenses.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, which means we are committed to creating and celebrating diverse thoughts, cultures, and backgrounds throughout our organization. Employment with us is based on substantive ability, objective qualifications, and work ethic – not an individual’s race, creed, color, religion, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence or sex offenses, reproductive health decision, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to providing the necessary support and accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, health conditions, or impairments (subject to any local qualifying requirements) to ensure their full participation in the job application or interview process. Please contact us at View email address on aiapply.co to request any accommodations or for support related to your application for an open position.

Please be aware that Zynga does not conduct job interviews or make job offers over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, or others. Zynga also does not engage in any financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process, and will never ask a candidate for their personal or financial information over an app or other unofficial chat channel. Any attempt to do so may be the result of a scamp or phishing attack, and you should not engage. Zynga’s in-house recruitment team will only contact individuals through their official Company email addresses (i.e., via a zynga.com, take2games.com, naturalmotion.com, smallgiantgames.com, themavens.com, gram.gs email domain).