Software Development Engineer Co-op (Sept. 2026)

Who we are

A Thinking Ape builds communities through mobile games with emergent social play and original IP. We released our first game in 2009 and have been profitable and growing every year since. We are a bottom-up driven company with small teams that have a big focus on ownership and data driven decision making. Our portfolio of games are growing. We are scaling our infrastructure and entering new markets to capitalize on this growth and bring our games to more players. Compensation for this position is $6,667 / month.

The job

As a Software Development Engineer Co-op, you will be helping build our live mobile games, including but not limited to Single City, Kingdoms of Heckfire, and Party in my Dorm, as well as the tools and infrastructure needed to run these massively multiplayer online experiences.

You will work closely with artists and designers to help grow our games. You will implement scalable, reliable, and maintainable technologies for both client and server.

You will have a major impact on the end product, and will be involved in every aspect of its development. Millions of people will use what you create.

We are only considering students who will be enrolled in an accredited degree program in the fall of 2026.

What you will do

You will be responsible for implementing features, systems, and tools for our games in live operation. The game backends are built with a Django + MySQL server architecture, while the frontend clients are built using Unity or native iOS/Android, depending on the product. You will also:

• Build entire features from front-end client code to back-end server support.

• Become involved in every aspect of product development, from design to implementation to playtests to metrics analysis.

• Construct systems that let everyone at the company deploy to our distributed backend without worry.

• Create tools to automate and optimize processes across disciplines. These might be adding additional player management tools for our community team, data pipeline optimizations for our game designers, or even content pipelines for our art team.

Who we are looking for

• You are a tech generalist, a full stack engineer with the desire to work on both client and server side implementations of entire features.

• Strong understanding of object-oriented design, data structures and algorithms.

• You communicate your thoughts and ideas clearly in code and in writing

• You have an interest in and play mobile gaming products.

Past co-ops have worked on..

• Guild management improvements like the ability to invite people, open clubs that players can join without approval, better club search, and other tools to keep our most active players engaged.

• Implemented a scalable group leaderboard event system full stack. The system guarantees consistency and availability while dozens of players try to contribute progress to their group frequently.

• Revamped data deploy tool to enable multiple game designers to work simultaneously.

• Setup metrics tracking and funnel analysis and experimented with different UI polishes to improve retention.

• Worked on upgrading our data pipeline: processing data and creating different data representations and visualizations to help ATA to make marketing and product decisions.

• Revamped the realm map overview to include real time positions of ongoing marches, key locations on the map and user bookmarked pins!

• Implemented the entire stack for our Second Builder subscription purchase, which included interfacing with both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, as well as client support.

• Optimized particle systems in-game to significantly reduce peak memory usage.

• Developed leaderboard-assigned classes for Shrines to grant players additional perks.

Interview process

• Resume + screening questions review

• Two 30-minute technical interviews, back to back with our engineers - expect to write code!

• 30-minute Team Fit interview

• Offer

Remote

We have committed to a remote approach. This means our roles are currently open to candidates who are legally eligible to work in, and located in, Canada between the core hours of 11am - 4pm PST.

What's in it for you

At ATA you’re offered a flexible, safe, inclusive environment in which you have the autonomy to do your best work, surrounded by a strong team and with the encouragement of supportive leadership that doesn’t just care what you’re doing, but how you’re doing. You’re trusted, respected, listened to, cared for and valued. You take on thought-provoking projects and tackle fun problems alongside people who are equally invested in making meaningful contributions and seeing new ideas come to life. You know how your work aligns with the company’s goals. Your career is given the space and resources to progress. You accomplish things that make you proud. You are compensated competitively, your health and wellbeing are top priorities and you enjoy plenty of perks. You build communities, take ownership, have wonderful arguments, let the best ideas win and keep growing. You don’t just work for ATA, you are an integral part of ATA.

Our commitment to inclusion

We build communities. To do this to the best of our abilities, we need a workforce that reflects the diverse player communities we serve. We believe a variety of perspectives and experiences allows us to make better decisions and understand the needs of our players. We work hard to create an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work and feel like they belong at ATA.

Please consider applying even if you don't meet every qualification and let us know if you require any accommodations or support during the recruitment process.

See our careers page or our short video to learn more about who we are and why you should join our team.