Bill Watters
San Francisco,CA
Summary
Accomplished Engineering Manager and Software Architect with over 30 years of experience driving innovation in gaming and software development. Proven track record of leading high-performing teams across mobile gaming, cloud engineering, and DevOps/Live Operations. Demonstrated success in scaling systems supporting millions of daily users while optimizing costs and maintaining performance. Expert in mentoring cross-functional teams and implementing best practices across the entire software development lifecycle.
Overview
30
30
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Staff Engineer
VOLLEY GAMES
San Francisco, CA
06.2024 - Current
- Serve as company's senior-most Staff Engineer, leading a platform shared services team
- Leading technical strategy across mobile, TV games, core technology, and infrastructure teams
- Architecting unified platform solution to integrate multiple game systems
Senior Engineering Manager
NEXTDOOR
San Francisco, CA
03.2023 - 11.2023
- Led the Cloud Engineering team, transitioning from siloed operations to a cohesive, collaborative organization
- Spearheaded the migration from dedicated instances to a fully containerized system in Kubernetes, improving scalability and cost efficiency
- Implemented ongoing cost optimization strategies, reducing monthly cloud expenses by 25%
- Impacted as part of 25% company-wide reduction in force
Senior Engineering Manager
ZYNGA
San Francisco, CA
03.2019 - 03.2023
- Managed the Live Ops, DevOps, and Features teams for the Poker group, driving innovation and operational excellence
- Streamlined deployment processes, reducing downtime during peak traffic by 40% and improving overall system stability
- Implemented cost-saving initiatives, decreasing monthly AWS expenses by nearly 50% through resource optimization and rightsizing
Principal Software Engineer/Division CTO
ZYNGA
San Francisco, CA
07.2016 - 03.2019
- Led live operations for existing titles, including Stampede Run and Looney Tunes Dash!, ensuring seamless user experiences
- Oversaw the development, launch, and successful release of Ice Age: Arctic Blast, a top-grossing mobile game
- Mentored and guided internal/external development and QA teams, delivering projects on time and within budget
Senior Server/Full Stack Engineer
ZYNGA
San Francisco, CA
02.2013 - 07.2016
- Served as a lead engineer for #1 titles on iOS and Android stores, including Running with Friends and Looney Tunes Dash!
- Worked across the full stack, from server (Rails/PHP/Memcache) to web integration (PHP/HTML/jQuery/AJAX) to mobile clients (C++/Java/Objective-C)
- Supported and scaled a multi-million player per day environment, ensuring optimal performance and uptime
Senior Server Engineer
NGMOCO:)
San Francisco, CA
01.2012 - 01.2013
- Lead server engineer on Transformers: Legends for iOS and Android platforms
Lead Engineer
IGN ENTERTAINMENT (GAMESPY INDUSTRIES)
San Francisco, CA
01.2005 - 11.2011
- Enabled game publishers and developers to design titles for the next generation of multiplayer experiences both in and out of game
- Worked extensively with Rockstar, THQ, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Dice, LucasArts, and others to develop custom implementations of online experiences for their titles
- Architected back-end solutions and processes to support some of the largest game titles published, including GTA IV, Battlefield 2, and Command & Conquer 3
Lead Web Engineer/Software Architect
ENATURE.COM
San Francisco, CA
09.2002 - 03.2005
- Designed a new database engine model, allowing servers to handle thousands of concurrent users each
- Developed the infrastructure, databases, and content management engines for sibleyguidetobirds.com
- Created PalmOS applications for stand-alone and offline synchronization of user data to the corporate website
Web Systems Architect/Director of Development
Montclare Technologies
06.1998 - 03.2004
Director of Support Services
Mpath Interactive
09.1996 - 04.1998
Manager, PC Technologies
General Magic
03.1995 - 09.1996
Education
Film Production/Marketing - PR Emphasis
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA01.1993
Theater -
Emporia State University
Emporia01.1990
Skills
- Engineering Leadership
- Technical Strategy
- Team Building
- Mentorship
- Agile Methodologies
- Cross-functional Team Leadership
- Game Development Pipeline
- Live Operations
- Technical Architecture
- Go
- Python
- C
- C#
- Ruby
- TypeScript JavaScript
- PHP Hacklang
- Objective-C
- Java
- React
- Angular
- CakePHP
- Ruby on Rails
- AWS GCP
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- CDK
- Datadog
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- Memcached
- Redis
- Custom Game Engines
Websites
Technical Proficiencies
Engineering Management, Technical Strategy, Team Building & Mentorship, Agile Methodologies, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Game Development Pipeline & Live Operations, Technical Architecture & System Design, Go, Hacklang, Python, C++, C#, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, Objective-C, Java, React, Angular, CakePHP, Ruby on Rails, AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, CDK, Datadog, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Memcached, Redis, Custom Game Engines, Live Operations Tools
Affiliations
- San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle
- Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
Languages
English
Native language
German
Intermediate (B1)
B1
Latin
Intermediate (B1)
B1
Italian
Beginner
A1
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