Job Title:
Data Scientist, Ricochet Anti-Cheat (Call of Duty)
Requisition ID:
R028031
Job Description:
Your Mission
Call of Duty is one of the most iconic and successful video game franchises in the world, delivering unforgettable experiences to millions of players every day. At the heart of that experience is fair play, and that is where the Ricochet Anti-Cheat team comes in.
Our mission is to protect the integrity of the online experience, ensuring every player enjoys a level playing field. As a Data Scientist on Ricochet, you will analyze, investigate, and translate complex data into insights that help detect, prevent, and respond to cheating across Call of Duty live titles.
This role can be based in either our Sherman Oaks, CA or our Vancouver, BC office and follows an onsite work schedule of four days per week. Work arrangements may change at the company's discretion to meet business needs.
The Role
We are seeking a Data Scientist to help secure the Call of Duty franchise by producing structured insights, experiments, and analyses that improve Ricochet anti-cheat outcomes at scale.
In this role, you will partner with anti-cheat engineers, analysts, operations specialists, game designers, and producers to answer ambiguous questions, evaluate detections, measure model impact, and identify new opportunities for anti-cheat initiatives. You will support the broader Ricochet organization through consultation, data analysis, data engineering, experimentation, dashboards, and executive-level reporting.
This role is ideal for someone who combines strong statistical and data science fundamentals with curiosity about adversarial player behavior, a passion for competitive integrity, and the communication skills to make complex findings actionable for technical and non-technical partners.
What you bring to the table
- Analyze gameplay telemetry, enforcement data, behavioral signals, and other large-scale datasets to investigate cheating patterns and anti-cheat outcomes.
- Collaborate on the ETL, data analysis, and measurement strategy for machine-learning projects that enhance detection, prevention, and response to cheating.
- Design and execute experiments and analyses that measure the impact of models, detections, interventions, and enforcement workflows on players and the business.
- Answer ambiguous questions with practical, evidence-based recommendations that help Ricochet prioritize anti-cheat initiatives.
- Produce dashboards, recurring reports, and executive-level summaries that clearly communicate results, trends, impediments, and impact.
- Partner with game designers, engineers, producers, analysts, and operations teams to identify new opportunities for anti-cheat improvements.
- Support validation of new anti-cheat detections and model changes before broader deployment, with attention to effectiveness and false-positive risk.
- Help improve the quality, consistency, and transparency of anti-cheat data pipelines, metrics, analysis standards, and reporting practices.
- Stay current on advances in anti-cheat technology, statistical analysis, experimentation, data science, and adversarial behavior analysis.
- Learn from senior team members, share knowledge with peers, and contribute to a culture of fairness, accountability, and continuous improvement in game security.
Player Profile
Minimum requirements:
Experience
- 3+ years of experience using data science to solve real-world problems with measurable impact on users and the business.
- Experience working with large data volumes for production, analytics, experimentation, or reporting purposes.
- Working knowledge of experimentation methods, impact measurement, statistical analysis, and metrics development.
- Experience building or maintaining dashboards, reports, and repeatable analytical workflows for stakeholders.
Knowledge & Skills
- Master's degree or equivalent work experience in Data Science, Computer Science, Data Analysis, Statistics, or a related field.
- Competence with Python, SQL, and PySpark for data analysis, data engineering, and production-scale workflows.
- Strong understanding of data analysis, statistics, experimentation, measurement design, and practical model evaluation.
- Familiarity with large data lake or warehouse environments such as Databricks, Snowflake, or similar platforms.
- Ability to synthesize multiple data sources into clear conclusions, recommendations, and decision-ready narratives.
- Practical understanding of data quality, ETL, schema evolution, and analytical reproducibility in large-scale environments.
- Ability to prioritize effectively across investigations, analyses, stakeholder requests, and long-term data science initiatives.
Key Attributes
- Ability to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including concise documentation and executive-ready reporting.
- Strong analytical judgment, attention to detail, and ability to work through ambiguous problems with incomplete or noisy data.
- Ability to learn from senior team members and contribute to the growth and success of others on the team.
- Passion for multiplayer gaming and preserving competitive integrity.
Extra Points
Minimum requirements:
Experience
- Experience developing agentic orchestration workflows that result in production outcomes.
- Experience with machine-learning-assisted detection systems, model monitoring, or adversarial behavior analysis.
- Experience with game telemetry, player behavioral analysis, or live-service game operations.
- Experience using SQL, Python, or scripting to automate repeatable analysis, anomaly detection, or reporting workflows.
Knowledge & Skills
- Familiarity with Call of Duty gameplay systems and mechanics, competitive multiplayer ecosystems, or common cheating methods.
Key Attributes
- Video game enthusiasm and curiosity about how data can improve fairness and player trust.
Your Platform
Activision Central Tech works to support our development studios and their titles. Comprised of seven main teams, we have many specialties including big data, privacy and security, motion capture and animation pipeline technologies, graphics, build and infrastructure for studio development and data centers, optimization, systems programming and online services including matchmaking and networking. Central Tech is distributed globally with offices across the U.S., and in Canada, England, Ireland and Japan.
Most of our teams are comprised of both engineering and research talent, allowing us to always have an eye on the future. Our talented engineers help with title development and provide valuable knowledge sharing between studios while our researchers are action-oriented and keep a strong connection with the needs of the game studios.
Central Tech is part of Activision. To learn more about us and our research, please visit us at https://research.activision.com/.
Our World
At Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We’re driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Tony Hawk’s™ Pro Skater™, and Guitar Hero®. As a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and products, our “press start” is simple: delight hundreds of millions of players around the world with innovative, fun, thrilling, and engaging entertainment experiences.
We’re not just looking back at our decades-long legacy; we’re forging ahead to keep advancing gameplay with some of the most popular titles and sophisticated technology in the world. We have bold ambitions to create the most inclusive company as we know our success comes from the passionate, creative, and diverse teams within our organization.
We’re in the business of delivering fun and unforgettable entertainment for our player community to enjoy. And our future opportunities have never been greater - this could be your opportunity to level up.
Ready to Activate Your Future?
We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.
Rewards
We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:
- Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
- 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
- Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
- Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
- If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.
Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.
In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $88,700.00 - $164,080.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.
