Expert Systems Reliability Engineer/SCM Platform Owner - Central Technology

Job Title:

Expert Systems Reliability Engineer/SCM Platform Owner - Central Technology

Requisition ID:

R027566

Job Description:

Job Title: Expert Systems Reliability Engineer / SCM Platform Owner

Reporting To: Director, Tools & Infrastructure 

Location:  Sherman Oaks, CA / Vancouver, BC / Remote (North America) 

Activision Central Tech builds and operates shared technology platforms that enable Activision’s game studios to create, collaborate, and ship at scale. One of the most critical of these platforms is Perforce — the backbone of source control, asset storage, and collaboration across our global studio footprint. 

We are looking for a senior, hands-on technologist to own our Perforce platform, its reliability, stability, integrity, roadmap, and external representation. This role sits at the intersection of SRE, platform engineering, partner management, and studio enablement. 

Your Mission 

You will be the accountable owner for Activision’s Perforce platform. That ownership spans: 

• Keeping Perforce reliable, stable, recoverable and performant 

• Representing Activision’s interests with Perforce Software and Microsoft/Xbox 

• Ensuring Perforce evolves safely alongside studio needs and AI tooling 

• Acting as the authoritative Perforce voice internally and externally 

• Enabling studios to help themselves without compromising safety or security 

You will partner closely with Central Tech systems engineers, studio IT leads, studio CTOs, principal programmers, and external partners — but you own the platform and its direction. 

Core Responsibilities 

Platform Ownership:

• Own the Perforce platform end-to-end, including reliability, stability, integrity, and technical direction 

• Ensure Perforce operates as a highly available, well-monitored, and recoverable service across all studios 

• Plan and execute Perforce upgrades, maintenance, and lifecycle changes with minimal studio impact 

• Own disaster recovery, redundancy, and data protection strategy for core and edge Perforce infrastructure 

• Support the long-term evolution of our Perforce implementation with AI-enabled workflows as required 

People & Studio Enablement:

• Act as the primary Perforce authority for Central Tech and game studios 

• Support and scale Perforce usage through self-service, automation, and delegation 

• Partner with studio CTOs, IT leads, and principal programmers to promote best practices 

• Ensure Perforce remains a trusted, predictable, and well-understood platform for developers 

Partners & Ecosystem:

• Own the technical relationship with Perforce Software, including roadmap influence and quality escalation 

• Represent Activision within Microsoft/Xbox, collaborating with other studio and platform leads 

• Serve as the external voice for Activision’s Perforce strategy and operating model 

Player Profile

Minimum requirements:

• 10+ years' experience operating SCM platforms at scale 

• Deep experience as either an SRE or a Senior Systems Engineer with full platform ownership

• Experience leading or influencing SRE practices is a strong plus 

• Strong Linux systems background (storage, compute, networking) 

• Experience with monitoring and observability platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, Elastic, etc.) 

• Experience with automation, delegation, or self-service tooling (Ansible, RunDeck, AWX, similar)  

• Comfortable working off-hours when necessary to resolve critical outages 

• Experience working directly with vendor and partner product/support teams 

• Strong communication skills — able to represent Activision externally with credibility 

What Success Looks Like 

• Perforce outages are rare, short, and well-understood 

• Studios trust the platform — and trust you 

• Most routine Perforce issues are solved through self-service workflows 

• Perforce upgrades are boring (this is a compliment) 

Your Platform

Activision Central Tech works to support our development studios and their titles. Comprised of seven main teams, we have many specialties including big data, privacy and security, motion capture and animation pipeline technologies, graphics, build and infrastructure for studio development and data centers, optimization, systems programming and online services including matchmaking and networking. Central Tech is distributed globally with offices across the U.S., and in Canada, England, Ireland and Japan.

Most of our teams are comprised of both engineering and research talent, allowing us to always have an eye on the future. Our talented engineers help with title development and provide valuable knowledge sharing between studios while our researchers are action-oriented and keep a strong connection with the needs of the game studios.

Central Tech is part of Activision. To learn more about us and our research, please visit us at https://research.activision.com/.

Our World

At Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We’re driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Tony Hawk’s™ Pro Skater™, and Guitar Hero®. As a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and products, our “press start” is simple: delight hundreds of millions of players around the world with innovative, fun, thrilling, and engaging entertainment experiences.

We’re not just looking back at our decades-long legacy; we’re forging ahead to keep advancing gameplay with some of the most popular titles and sophisticated technology in the world. We have bold ambitions to create the most inclusive company as we know our success comes from the passionate, creative, and diverse teams within our organization.

We’re in the business of delivering fun and unforgettable entertainment for our player community to enjoy. And our future opportunities have never been greater — this could be your opportunity to level up.

Ready to Activate Your Future?

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [email protected]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!  Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• 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.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.  You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $121,500.00 - $224,880.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.