Vice President, Infrastructure - Central Tech

Vice President of Infrastructure/Central Tech – Sherman Oaks, CA

Your Mission:

Activision is looking for a Vice President to join the Central Technology team to own the hardware and cloud assets we use to power up some the world’s largest and most beloved games.

We want and individual who has a passion and proven track record for creating and maintaining web scale infrastructure in a non-stop environment. Responsibilities include:

• Balance Data Center costs versus Cloud Costs

• Identify, Understand, and mitigate key cost drivers

• Build, containerization and deployment strategies

• Create ongoing 24x7 monitoring environment

• Know the appropriate places for deploying bare metal infrastructure in balance with cloud strategies

• Partner with Central Studios, Demonware, and Game Development studios to meet the infrastructure needed to build, release and maintain large AAA games

This role will manage a talented team to provide storage and compute infrastructure for:

• Distributed perforce code management system servicing a dozen studios

• Clusters of automated build, execute, and test code coverage systems

• Clusters of 24x7 server systems backend game services like player inventory, marketplace/commerce, matchmaking, and leaderboards that support 100s of millions of players

• System for game title release and update

• Scalable infrastructure to support simulation servers for multiplayer gaming sessions

Player Profile:

The ideal candidate will have competitive experience in the following areas:

• Financial modeling for cloud and datacenter costs

• Negotiations for securing data center space

• Base level infrastructure software services (DNS, DHCP, Logging, etc)

• Scalability Strategies including cloud overflow and burst (AWS, Azure, Google)

• Job distribution and automated cluster operations software.

• Security both on-prem and in the cloud

• Networking

• DDOS mitigation

• CDN strategies, when to use, when to not

• Data Center Commissioning (Power, Cooling, Cabling, Layout)

• Containerization Strategies to enable efficient deployment

• Data/Compute localization strategies to minimize end user (player) latencies

Additional requirements include:

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher education degree preferred

• 10+ years of experience in the infrastructure industry

• 4+ years of experience at Director level or above

• Demonstrated experience with development and operation of large compute and storage clusters

Your Platform:

We’re headquartered in Santa Monica, California, housing multiple teams across many disciplines of Marketing, PR, Sales, Supply Chain and other corporate functions such as HR, IT, Legal, Facilities and Finance. Santa Monica is the nerve center of our company, where the best ideas combine with unrivalled rigor to create the biggest and best entertainment experiences in the world.

Our World:

Great Games Start with Great People!  This is an exciting time to join us!

Ask anyone who works at Activision, or with Activision, their favorite thing about it, and they’ll tell you, it’s the people. We have world class brands, infrastructure and resources, but our success doesn’t come from assembly lines producing widgets. Our success comes from people producing greatness together. We are nothing without our employee’s brilliance. So if you’re interested in our biggest priority, it’s the people. 

Activision is more than just the leading developer and publisher of video games; we are the creators of some of the world’s biggest, most ground-breaking titles in the industry. Our portfolio includes Call of Duty® and Crash Bandicoot™.

Activision is a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), headquartered in Santa Monica, California with locations across the globe. Activision Blizzard is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology, and entertainment. A member of the S&P 500 and recognized on the 2018 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list, Activision Blizzard has operations throughout the world with approximately 10,000 employees and players in 196 countries.

The video game industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

Activision is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.