Nighthawk Play

Spread
the joy

About us

Nighthawk Play: Gaming Dreamers Set Sail from Orlando
In 2024, in Orlando, a city steeped in sunshine and innovation, Nighthawk Play was born, driven by a passionate belief in the art of gaming. This city, a melting pot of Disney magic and EA's technological heritage, became the starting point for our exploration of the digital world. As a young independent studio, we understand that games are more than just a symphony of code and pixels; they are bridges that connect the hearts of gamers worldwide.

The team to Nighthawk Play

Ray Mazza

Studio Creative Director & Co-Founder

Level

18 years

Role

Design, Engineering, Audio

Passions

Writing, Photography, Nature, Consuming Mike’s cocktails

Favorite Game

Super Metroid

Ray Mazza

Studio Creative Director & Co-Founder

Ray Mazza - Studio Creative Director & Co-Founder

Michael Duke

Studio Director & Co-Founder

Level

16 years

Role

Production, Engineering, Design

Passions

Running, Biking, Craft Cocktails

Favorite Game

Zelda: A Link to the Past

Michael Duke

Studio Director & Co-Founder

Michael Duke - Studio Technical Director

Peter Ingebretson

Studio Technical Director

Level

19 years

Role

Engineering, Design, Programmer Art

Passions

Gardening, Cooking, Board Games

Favorite Game

Master of Orion

Peter Ingebretson

Studio Technical Director

Peter Ingebretson - Studio Technical Director

Kelly Riley

Senior Technical Artist

Level

22 years

Role

Animation, VFX, Tech Art

Passions

Collecting Soviet era watches, Bone china tea cups, Letterpress typefaces, and Ham radio kits.

Favorite Game

The one I'm building

Kelly Riley

Senior Technical Artist

Kelly Riley - Senior Technical Artist

Joshua Pollak

Principal Engineer

Level

5 years

Role

Engineering, Design, Tangents

Passions

Mechanical Keyboards, Audio, CNC, Cocktails

Favorite Game

Gris

Joshua Pollak

Principal Engineer

Joshua Pollak - Engineering, Design, Tangents

Services

Superior Services. Unparalleled Results.

Nighthawk Play is committed to delivering exceptional results. Our services span cybersecurity operations, enterprise IT, and data analytics, providing clients with comprehensive, scalable, reliable, and cutting-edge solutions. Our reputation as a leading small business contractor is built on our highly skilled workforce, ensuring our clients receive support from the industry's best talent.

Cybersecurity

From safeguarding your critical data to securing your network infrastructure, Nighthawk Cyber is committed to delivering comprehensive and customized solutions to protect your mission.
Our full-spectrum cyber-solutions portfolio is tailored to client mission goals and objectives to rapidly identify, assess, and remediate any cyber risk:
- Security Architecture Design & Development
- Vulnerability & Security Assessments
- Defensive Cybersecurity Operations
- Security Operations Center Support
- Policy and Governance
- Exercises and Training
- DevSecOps

Enterprise IT

In the realm of enterprise IT, our innovative approach ensures that your systems are not only operational but also optimized for peak performance. We understand the importance of reliable IT services in today's fast-paced operational environments, and we are dedicated to providing seamless and efficient solutions tailored to specific requirements.
We go beyond technology implementation, delivering technology adoption, workflow transformation, and staffing of cleared and certified personnel. Our collaborative approach accelerates realized customer value from their technology investments:
- Network Engineering and Management
- Infrastructure Migration
- Enterprise Architecture
- Systems Engineering
- Cloud Computing
- Analysis & Design

Want to join the Nighthawk team?

With a hands-on approach to employee engagement, competitive pay and benefits, and a culture focused on empowering our people for excellence, Nighthawk is the ideal place to grow in your career.

Data Scientist
Location: Orlando
We're seeking a talented and passionate Data Scientist to join Nighthawk Play team.

As a Data Scientist, you'll expand the potential of games by providing unconventional solutions to business problems, such as how to analyze game performance, engage players, customize content, run successful experiments, and optimize game economies.

We understand that the work we do is critical to our company's success and culture. The right person for this role should be curious, adaptable to a "can-do" environment, have a passion for problem-solving, and thrive in a fast-growing organization.

What You Do

- Help game teams make data-driven decisions by providing access to data, fostering analytical best practices and rigor, and creating analytical methods, tools, and models to solve specific game problems.

- Accelerate game development by leveraging existing tools or building new ones to quickly answer business questions.

- Expand the potential of games by providing unconventional solutions to business problems, such as how to analyze game performance, engage players, customize content, conduct successful experiments, and optimize game economies.

- Apply experimentation and the scientific method to continuously iterate on your product — the game.

What you'll need

- Knowledge of statistics and machine learning that is both deep and broad.

- Experience of working as a data scientist or machine learning engineer on technically challenging problems.

- Experience with product analytics.

Backend Engineer
Location: Orlando
We're looking for a hardworking and passionate Backend Engineer to join Nighthawk Play team.

What you’ll do

- Development of systems focusing on your customer, whether they are players or other Wildlife employees.

- Be part of a cross-functional team, directly contributing to feature development and maintenance.

- Partner with colleagues to build and maintain tooling for test development, automation, and release processes improvement.

What you'll need

- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent tech areas and/or equivalent experience.

- Solid and previous experience in software development and solution design.

- Solid understanding of computer concepts (data structures, networking, concurrency, memory management, and algorithm analysis).

- Excellent knowledge of software testing concepts (testability, escape rate, regression, unit, integration, soak, stress, test automation).

- Availability to work in a hybrid model – 2 to 3 times a week on-site at our office in Orlando

What We Offer

Nighthawk is proud to offer a competitive compensation package. We provide excellent benefits, flexible PTO, performance bonuses, and a supportive leadership team to help you achieve your career goals. We take care of our employees and their families, create opportunities for work/life balance, and invest in building a strong team culture.

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