VP of Infrastructure & Security (Gaming Studio)
Directs the protection and scaling of global cloud infrastructure for high-concurrency multiplayer gaming environments.
Overview
The day-to-day reality of this position involves balancing the performance requirements of low-latency gaming with the stringent controls of modern cybersecurity. Work revolves around high-level strategic planning, incident response oversight, and the management of large-scale cloud budgets. The rhythm is dictated by major game release cycles and live service maintenance, often requiring rapid decision-making during technical outages or security vulnerabilities. It is a high-pressure environment where technical stability directly impacts company revenue and player trust.
Success in this career requires a deep understanding of distributed systems and a pragmatic approach to security that does not stifle developer velocity. Those who thrive are typically veteran engineers who have transitioned into executive leadership, possessing the ability to communicate complex infrastructure risks to non-technical stakeholders. The role demands a combination of architectural vision and the emotional intelligence needed to manage diverse teams of site reliability engineers and security analysts across multiple time zones.
Responsibilities
- Define the long-term roadmap for cloud infrastructure and security architecture across all studio titles.
- Oversee the response to major security incidents and system outages to ensure minimal disruption to players.
- Manage multi-million dollar annual budgets for cloud service providers and security hardware.
- Establish rigorous data privacy standards to comply with international regulations and protect player information.
- Direct the integration of automated security testing into the continuous integration and deployment pipelines.
- Collaborate with game directors to ensure infrastructure can support projected player growth and feature sets.
Qualifications
- Minimum of ten years in infrastructure engineering or cybersecurity with at least five years in senior leadership.
- Extensive experience managing large-scale distributed systems on AWS, GCP, or Azure cloud platforms.
- Proven track record of securing high-traffic consumer applications or gaming platforms.
- Deep knowledge of networking protocols, container orchestration, and modern DevSecOps practices.
- Mastery of incident management frameworks and disaster recovery planning for live services.
Nice to have
- Advanced degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or a related technical field.
- Experience working within a major AAA gaming studio or a high-growth tech startup.
- Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or cloud-specific professional architect designations.
Work environment
- Work is typically performed in a hybrid setting, split between a studio office and a home environment.
- The culture is fast-paced and revolves around major milestones such as alpha tests and global launches.
- Collaboration occurs across global time zones using tools like Slack, Jira, and PagerDuty.
- Occasional travel to data centers or international satellite offices is required for high-level audits.
Benefits & growth
- Compensation packages typically include significant annual performance bonuses and equity grants.
- Professional development focuses on executive leadership training and advanced cybersecurity summits.
- Career progression leads to C-suite positions such as Chief Technology Officer or Chief Information Security Officer.
- Standard benefits packages include comprehensive health insurance and generous retirement matching programs.
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