Senior Software Engineer - Future Forward Concepting

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

Senior Software Engineer- Future Forward Concepting

Our philosophy is centered around the process and practice of innovation. We are looking for individuals that are not only interested in being innovative themselves but how they can amplify others in the organization. The Future Forward Concepting team looks at a broad range of potential opportunities, seeking to find novel and exciting technology applications to tackle real problems our users have.

The ideal candidate for this position would be someone who relentlessly questions the existing methods and techniques for solving problems. Asking “Why?” as a result of a particular interaction or software feature is a common trait.

We are seeking a collaborator and contributor, not necessarily someone who is going to be on the hook for endless tasks in Jira with the rigors and ceremonies of typical software development. We like to stay lean and forward-thinking, so folks who are able to prioritize and communicate well among an asynchronous team is a critical trait we look for in candidates.

The concepting group may move from project to project, and we would expect the right candidate to be excited by change and the challenge of context switching between many ideas.

Ubiquitous Assimilation – We constantly look at the market, players, the business, technology and other spaces and perform our alchemy on all of these ideas endlessly. Do you have a keen eye for spotting trends or gaps in the market? Do you keep up to date with the latest in technology, science, or engineering practices? Do you endlessly want to discuss and brainstorm ways to apply that knowledge to new products and services?

Asking Why? – The most potent activity of innovation is asking questions and looking for their answers. We constantly ask ourselves and others questions about the status quo, looking to not upend the way we work but to find new and exciting ways users may want to play.

Charting the Unknown – We’re at the tip of the spear for a huge business. We work within the realm of the unknown, and as such need to do a lot of definition of what’s possible. Do you have a keen sense of what's meaningful versus what’s fluff?

Understanding Failure – Not every idea is a good one. Often we find that an idea we can kill quickly gives us critical information that helps us to define what not to do. This is one of the most important aspects of a collaborator.

Efficiency – Understanding what you can build, why you should build it, and what not to build are just as crucial as the opposites. Being efficient as a collaborator is about knowing what is vital to build in order to answer specific and meaningful questions. Knowing how high fidelity that construction is can also be critically important.

If any of the above sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.

Experience and Education

• Experience with modern web technologies, such as JavaScript/TypeScript, WebRTC, WebSockets, and so on..
• Experience with or exposure to other programming languages, such as Python, Ruby, Java, or Rust.
• Some real world experience with JavaScript frameworks, such as React, Svelte, or Vue.
• Some experience with internet infrastructure (Servers, databases, etc), preferably AWS.
• Strong written communication skills - This is a must, as most of our output relies on clear, concise written text.
• Experience working with Github tools (Issues, Pull Requests, Projects, Actions)

Responsibilities and Role Definition

As part of the Future Forward Concepting team, this position’s primary role is to chip in and collaborate with the team on various software development projects. This contribution can take many forms depending on the project:

• Working on building prototypes in the browser
• Collaborating in a virtual whiteboard brainstorm sessions
• Writing a brief on a given idea or technology, either in Figma, Powerpoint, or other tools
• Implementation of key