Principal Engineer II (D&D Beyond)

At Wizards of the Coast, we connect people around the world through play and imagination. From our genre-defining games like Magic: The Gathering® and Dungeons & Dragons® to our growing multiverse, we continue to innovate and build new ways to foster friendship and connection. That’s where you come in!

As a Principal Software Engineer II working on D&D, you will drive the technical vision and strategy for D&D Beyond (DDB), WotC's official D&D digital toolset and marketplace. You will work on all aspects of DDB, including its player tools, Dungeon Master (DM) tools, and marketplace. You will focus on solving the most complex problems, working collaboratively with teams across the US and Poland.

You will be both an architect and hands-on builder, highly attuned to the technical realities of building and operating systems for complex services and data. You will have strong technical judgment and influencing skills, facilitating discussions at the Director, Sr. Director, VP, and SR. VP level as a key technical adviser. You will provide both architectural guidance and detailed technical direction while fostering continuous delivery.

Strong remote work experience and both written and verbal communication skills are a must. An understanding of, and appreciation for, D&D is a plus.

What You'll Do:

• Fully understand the DDB system, its limitations, inter-dependencies, scaling factors, boundary conditions, and reasons behind architectural decisions.
• Design, pioneer, and implement solutions to solve the most important needs and technical challenges.
• Deconstruct the largest and most complicated problems into simple solutions.
• Lead initiatives to improve product performance and scaling.
• Influence programming standards, taking the initiative and advocating for change when needed.
• Form relationships and trust, as well as share knowledge, across Wizards business units.
• Contribute to long-term technical planning and prioritization of work at the project and business unit level.
• Assist in the career development of others, actively mentoring individual engineers and the WotC engineering community on technical issues and the latest technologies.

What You'll Bring:

• 10+ years of proven software development experience, with the majority in a technical leadership role.
• 5+ years designing and building web services and APIs in the cloud using industry-standard practices.
• Experience leading projects with significant complexity and business impact.
• Proven track record building services in the cloud (e.g., AWS, Azure, etc.).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• A curious demeanor with a willingness to learn new things and contribute to all areas of the product.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills with an ability to concisely convey technical concepts to leadership.
• Successful track record of mentoring and helping grow the careers of engineers at all levels.

Nice to Have:

• Experience architecting and building E-Commerce sites including integration with payment and back office systems (finance, data warehouse).
• Prior experience breaking down monolithic framework architectures, built using .NET and C#, into smaller distributed services.
• Experience with Node.js or Next.js, and REST.
• Experience using AWS (e.g., Lambda, Gateway, DynamoDB, SNS, SQS, Event Bridge).
• Experience working with both relational (e.g., SQL Server, MySQL, Postgres) and non-relational databases (e.g., DynamoDB, MongoDB).
• Experience building containerized applications (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with React and TypeScript.
• A passion for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

We are an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer

The above is intended to describe the general content of and the requirements for satisfactory performance in this position. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of the duties, responsibilities, or requirements of the position.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you are selected to move forward in our application process and need to request an accommodation, please let your recruiter or coordinator know.