Expert Engineer, Security

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Requisition ID:

Job Description:

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/. 

Your Mission 

We’re looking for a talented and motivated engineer to investigate and reverse engineer cheating tools for Call of Duty, to help secure the game client and protect our players. 

As an Expert Engineer supporting our anti-cheat efforts, you will be responsible for the end-to-end development, configuration, scripting, deployment and maintenance of cheating detections and mitigations. For this role, you should be able to quickly familiarize yourself with existing codebases and be able to write elegant, high performing, extensible code that works well within a collaborative low-level high-risk coding environment. 

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:     

• Investigate and reverse engineer cheating tools for Call of Duty to help secure the game client and its interactions with the game servers 
• Apply experience with x64 assembly language, C/C++, Python, and low-level programming concepts to maintain anti-cheat tools and services in the game engine 
• Build detections and mitigations to protect players against cheating 
• Maintain and extend documentation on security best practices 
• Collaborate with other engineers from across the business to educate and improve game security 
• Stay up-to-date with the latest security trends and threats in the industry 

Player Profile  

Experience  

• Production-level C/C++ experience 
• Kernel-level experience with Windows and the ways exploits take advantage of the OS 
• Experience with disassemblers, debuggers, and other reverse engineering tools 
• Experience with static and dynamic analysis tools for multiple systems and file formats 

Knowledge & Skills  

• BA/BS in Computer Science and 5+ years relevant work experience within security/anti-cheat 

Key Attributes  

• An autonomous, problem-solving, and open-minded attitude 
• Excellent communication skills, and the ability to collaborate with other engineers, designers, and producers
• Ideal candidate will have experience working with back-end game services 

Extra Points:  

Experience

• Familiarity with modern first-person shooter architectures 
• Experience analyzing and decoding network traffic 

Knowledge & Skills  

• Knowledge of algorithms, data structures, performance, and multi-threaded programming techniques 
• Understanding of network protocols, client/server architecture, and peer-to-peer architectures

Our World  

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet! 

Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment.  We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! 

The videogame 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. 

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/.