Principal Engineer, Unity Rewards

About the role

We are looking for a Principal Mobile App Developer to architect and lead the development of a standalone B2C mobile application. This app will serve as a premier destination for players to discover new games, track their playtime and milestones, and earn real-world rewards. You will build the highly gamified "storefront" that sits on top of Unity’s massive backend ML and data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Architecture: Design and architect the mobile client (iOS/Android) for a greenfield consumer rewards application, making foundational decisions on tech stack, state management, and app architecture.
• Build the Consumer Experience: Develop highly engaging, gamified UI/UX components—including daily streak mechanics, dynamic offer walls, progress trackers, and real-time wallet balances.
• Integrate at Scale: Connect the consumer app directly into Unity’s backend event-pipelines and ML attribution models, optimizing for expected user value (e.g., E[V]) and retention probability.
• Manage Virtual Economies: Architect robust on-device state management that handles virtual currencies, ledger updates, and offline/online syncing without transaction loss.
• Anti-Fraud & Attribution: Collaborate with ML and backend teams to implement secure, tamper-proof event tracking to prevent device farming and exploit loops.
• Technical Leadership: Mentor senior mobile engineers, set code quality standards, and define CI/CD and release pipelines for high-frequency updates.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience building native (Swift/Kotlin) or high-performance cross-platform (React Native/Flutter) consumer mobile applications at scale.
• Proven track record building apps with high DAU/MAU that rely on gamification, loyalty programs, or fintech/wallet features.
• Deep understanding of modern mobile architecture patterns (MVVM, Clean Architecture, VIPER), memory management, and performance profiling.
• Experience handling complex asynchronous data streams, real-time websocket connections, and local persistence for offline-first capabilities.
• Obsession with UI/UX, including micro-interactions, animations, and app feel.
• Familiarity with mobile attribution platforms (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Singular) and playtime/event milestone tracking.
• Passion for mobile gaming and understanding of player retention drivers.
• Previous experience at a consumer rewards company (e.g., Mistplay, Fetch, Ibotta, JustPlay) or consumer fintech app with heavy gamification is a plus.

Pay

• Mountain View, SF/Bay: $227,900 - $341,900
• Bellevue, Seattle, NYC, Remote CA: $202,800 - $304,200
• Rest of US: $179,500 - $269,300

This range reflects the anticipated base salary for this position. Beyond base salary, this role may be eligible for equity awards and participation in company incentive plans (e.g., annual discretionary bonuses or sales commissions). The final offer amount will depend on geographic location and the candidate’s relevant experience, professional background, and skill set.

Benefits

While specific benefits vary by country and employment status, eligible team members globally may receive:

• Comprehensive health, life, and disability insurance
• Commute subsidy
• Employee stock ownership
• Competitive retirement/pension plans
• Generous vacation and personal days
• Support for new parents through leave and family-care programs
• Office food and snacks
• Mental health and wellbeing programs and support
• Employee Resource Groups
• Global Employee Assistance Program
• Training and development programs
• Volunteering and donation matching program

Relocation support is not available for this position.