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# Software Engineer - Playable Ads (Creative Engineering)

- **Company:** Polaris Inc.
- **Location:** United States (Remote available)
- **Experience:** Experienced
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** HTML, JavaScript (Programming Language), Computer Animation, HTML5, Encodings, Software Debugging, Network Interface Controllers, JSON, TypeScript, WebGL, Rollup, State Machines, Webpack, Templating, Data Analytics, Front End Software Development
- **Published:** October 26, 2026
- **Apply:** https://arc.dev/remote-jobs/j/redirect/ptst7hvz63

## About the Role

Must-Have

 * 4-6 years in frontend or game engineering, including 3+ years building playable ads or HTML5 mini-games that shipped to production
 * Strong JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML5 Canvas/WebGL, and at least one lightweight engine (PixiJS, Phaser, CreateJS, Cocos, or equivalent) - plus the judgment to know when to skip the engine entirely for size reasons
 * Demonstrable experience with MRAID and the playable specs of major ad networks (ironSource, AppLovin, Unity Ads, Mintegral, Vungle, Meta, Google) - including single-file packaging, size limits, and the quirks of each SDK's wrapper
 * Real command of asset and build optimisation: texture atlasing, sprite sheets, audio compression, image encoding, minification, inline base64 packaging, and measuring your way down to a size budget
 * Game-loop fundamentals - state machines, tweening and animation, touch and gesture input, frame-rate and memory behaviour on low-end mobile devices
 * Responsive orientation handling and cross-device debugging on real hardware
 * Comfort building things to be configured rather than hardcoded: data-driven scenes, template systems, JSON-schema-style configuration

Nice-to-Have

 * Built an internal playable builder or templating system, not just individual playables
 * Experience with build tooling (Webpack, Vite, Rollup) and custom bundlers or packagers
 * Familiarity with adtech mechanics - DSPs, impression and click pipelines, VAST/MRAID creatives
 * Creative performance instincts: what actually moves CTR and IPM in a playable
 * Animation and motion work with Spine, Lottie, or DragonBones

## Description

RZR's DSP already serves playable ads that clients hand us. We are now building the platform that creates them ourselves - a config-driven engine with a reusable library of game mechanics (Match-3, Runner, Puzzle, Drag & Drop, Sort/Merge) that can be configured with any advertiser's assets and gameplay rules, skinned per ad genre, packaged into a single self-contained build, and shipped across ad exchanges.

This engineer owns the playables themselves: the mechanic library, the genre templates, the packaging pipeline, and the network adapters that make a CTA fire on every exchange. It is hands-on creative engineering - we need someone who has shipped real playables into real exchanges and knows where the bodies are buried.

The role sits on Team Apollo alongside the Creative Platform group, partnering closely with design on the editor and live preview, and with the DSP team on campaign handoff and impression telemetry.

Key Responsibilities

 * Build and maintain the reusable mechanic library - each mechanic parameterised so a new client or creative variation is a configuration change, not a new codebase
 * Multiply each mechanic into genre-specific templates (gaming-install, finance, retail), each skinned and paced for its audience
 * Build every playable for portrait and landscape from one configuration, shipped together as one bundle
 * Implement the interaction and telemetry layer - touched, tap count, completion %, win/lose, retry, exit point - reported per impression from release one
 * Build network adapter shims (Aarki, Kidoz, ironSource, generic MRAID) behind one internal lifecycle contract: ready, start, level start/end, progress, retry, finish/outcome, open-store
 * Own the build and packaging path: compress and base64-inline every image, audio file and font into a single HTML artifact that decompresses in-browser at load
 * Encode ad-environment constraints - file-size budgets, sandboxed execution with no runtime network calls, format compliance - into automated validation, since there is no client QA step to catch a bloated or non-compliant creative
 * Partner with design and the DSP team on the editor, live preview, and handoff into campaign delivery