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Game Composer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

TrueShort

AI Music Composer & Editor

Los Angeles, CA · On-site +1

Links to any film, television, game, or interactive media projects you've scored or edited * A brief overview of your workflow, preferred creative tools, and experience with AI music generation

Apple

Design Evangelist

Cupertino, CA · On-site

... games that are innovative, easy to use, and beautifully designed. We are seeking a Design ... Composer Familiarity with accessibility concepts and best practices Passion for Apple's design ...

Apple

Design Evangelist

Cupertino, CA

$184K - $277K/yr

... games that are innovative, easy to use, and beautifully designed. We are seeking a Design ... Composer Familiarity with accessibility concepts and best practices Passion for Apple's design ...

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How much do game composer jobs pay per hour?

As of Sep 2, 2026, the average hourly pay for game composer in California is $22.30, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $19.90 and $27.50 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What does a game composer do?

A Game Composer creates the musical score and soundtracks for video games, enhancing the game's atmosphere, emotion, and player experience. They work closely with developers, sound designers, and directors to craft music that fits the game's theme, mood, and narrative. This involves composing original music, implementing adaptive sound techniques, and sometimes working with live musicians. Their work helps establish immersion and engagement, making the game world more dynamic and emotionally impactful.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a game composer?

To thrive as a Game Composer, you need a solid background in music composition, sound design, and a strong understanding of how music enhances gameplay experiences; a degree in music or related field is often preferred. Proficiency with digital audio workstations (DAWs), orchestration software, and specialized audio integration tools like FMOD or Wwise is essential. Creativity, collaboration, and strong communication skills help composers interpret the creative vision and work closely with developers and other team members. These abilities are crucial for creating immersive, adaptive soundtracks that elevate the player's emotional engagement and fit the technical needs of interactive media.

What types of projects and collaboration can a game composer expect when working with a game development team?

Game Composers typically collaborate closely with game designers, audio directors, sound engineers, and occasionally narrative teams to ensure music aligns seamlessly with gameplay and storytelling. You'll participate in creative meetings, provide input on the mood or style needed for specific game scenes, and often iterate on compositions based on team feedback. Many projects involve tight deadlines and require adaptability as the game's direction evolves. Working across genres and project sizes—from indie studios to AAA companies—offers valuable learning experiences, and successful composers often build versatile portfolios that open doors to senior audio roles or broader sound design opportunities.

Do you need a degree to be a game composer?

A degree is not strictly required to become a game composer, but many professionals have backgrounds in music, audio engineering, or related fields. Skills in music composition, digital audio workstations, and understanding of game development are essential, and building a strong portfolio can be more important than formal education.

How much do game composers make?

Game composers typically earn between $40,000 and $100,000 annually, depending on experience, project scope, and industry reputation. Senior composers or those working on high-profile titles can earn higher salaries, and many also work freelance or on a contract basis. Skills in music production, familiarity with digital audio workstations, and a strong portfolio can influence earning potential.

How to get into composing music for games?

Game composers create music specifically for video games, often starting with a strong foundation in music theory, composition, and digital audio workstations (DAWs). Building a portfolio of original work, understanding game development processes, and gaining experience through internships or collaborations can help entry into the field; familiarity with audio middleware like FMOD or Wwise is also beneficial.

How to get work as a game composer?

To work as a game composer, develop strong music composition skills using digital audio workstations and create a portfolio of original work. Gain experience through internships, freelance projects, or collaborations with indie developers, and network within the industry to find opportunities. A background in music theory and familiarity with game development tools can enhance your prospects.

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Game Composer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Game Composer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 80% Full Time, 12% Part Time, and 8% Contract. Highlights an 76% In-person, 4% Hybrid, and 20% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $46,375 per year, or $22.3 per hour.

Data Engineer II, Mobile Game Analytics

Mattel

El Segundo, CA • On-site

$122K - $146K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted yesterday

Mattel rating

8.4

Company rating: 8.4 out of 10

Based on 27 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

Job description

Company Description
CREATIVITY IS OUR SUPERPOWER. It's our heritage and it's also our future. Because we don't just make toys. We create innovative products and experiences that inspire fans, entertain audiences and develop children through play. Mattel is at its best when every member of our team feels respected, included, and heard-when everyone can show up as themselves and do their best work every day. We value and share an infinite range of ideas and voices that evolve and broaden our perspectives with a reach that extends into all our brands, partners, and suppliers.
The Team:
Mattel Game Studios builds and publishes digital games inspired by Mattel's iconic brands-creating high-quality experiences that connect players with the characters and worlds they love. Led by seasoned games industry leaders, we partner across disciplines and with best-in-class external studios to bring experiences to life for a global audience.
Job Description
The Opportunity:
We're hiring a Data Engineer II to own the analytics backbone for our growing mobile free-to-play portfolio. You'll design and operate the pipelines, data models, and quality systems that turn raw telemetry into trustworthy, analyst-ready datasets - so studio teams can make sharper decisions about retention, monetization, and engagement across titles. This is a build-while-running role: you'll keep existing pipelines healthy, migrate legacy infrastructure onto our partner-managed ETL platform, and stand up new capabilities alongside it.
What Your Impact Will Be:
Run & Optimize - Live Data ETL Framework
  • Configure and operate the partner-managed ETL framework for mobile game telemetry ingestion and transformation
  • Maintain silver/gold transformation layers in BigQuery using SQL and orchestration tooling, applying schemas optimized for analytical queries
  • Optimize BigQuery performance and cost through partitioning, clustering, materialized views, and query tuning
  • Design curated data marts as data products - with clear owners, documentation, and SLAs - that power Mixpanel dashboards and enable analysts to self-serve on retention, monetization, and engagement metrics

Migrate & Extend
  • Migrate legacy Airflow pipelines to the partner platform for existing and licensed titles without disrupting live reporting
  • Partner with game studios and Data Analysts on tracking plans - defining events, properties, validation rules, and data contracts that keep downstream consumers insulated from upstream change
  • Build data quality and observability systems that reduce time-to-detect and time-to-recover for telemetry issues before they reach reporting
  • Contribute to team engineering practices - code review, documentation standards, onboarding - and pragmatically apply AI and LLM tooling to accelerate SQL authoring, validation, and documentation

Qualifications
What We're Looking For:
  • 4+ years as a Data Engineer or Analytics Engineer shipping production data pipelines
  • Expert SQL and strong Python, with hands-on experience in BigQuery and Airflow / Cloud Composer
  • Demonstrated expertise in medallion architecture, dimensional modeling and data warehouse optimization
  • Mobile F2P analytics experience - fluency with event telemetry, player lifecycle metrics (retention, LTV, ARPDAU), and game economy KPIs
  • Hands-on working knowledge of GCP-native tooling
  • Track record of building data quality and observability systems: validation, anomaly detection, SLAs, and operational hygiene
  • Solid production engineering practices - version control, code review, CI/CD, and environment management for data pipelines
  • Comfort operating within a partner-managed ETL framework and coordinating across studio, analytics, and infrastructure teams
  • Strong collaboration and communication skills; high-ownership working style with comfort in ambiguous problem spaces
  • Working knowledge of privacy and compliance fundamentals
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field

Nice to Have:
  • Experience with dbt (data build tool) for transformation orchestration
  • Familiarity with mobile attribution SDKs (Adjust, AppsFlyer, Kochava) and attribution modeling
  • Familiarity with mobile game revenue data - in-app purchases and ad monetization
  • Experience with data observability platforms
  • Fluency with Mixpanel as a downstream consumer of the data you build; exposure to Tableau or Looker

*The pay range is indicative of projected hiring range, however base pay will be determined based on a candidate's work location, skills and experience. Mattel offers competitive total pay programs, comprehensive benefits, and resources to help empower a culture where every employee can reach their full potential.
Additional Information
Don't meet every single requirement? At Mattel, we are dedicated to an inclusive workplace and a culture of belonging. If you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. Join Mattel's Talent Community and start receiving exciting updates about our company, our employees, and our culture. Also, interested in signing up for job alerts? Do so here!
How We Work:
We are a purpose driven company aiming to empower generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. We live up to our purpose employing the following behaviors:
  • We collaborate: Being a part of Mattel means being part of one team with shared values and common goals. Every person counts and working closely together always brings better results. Partnership is our process and our collective capabilities is our superpower.
  • We innovate: At Mattel we always aim to find new and better ways to create innovative products and experiences. No matter where you work in the organization, you can always make a difference and have real impact. We welcome new ideas and value new initiatives that challenge conventional thinking.
  • We execute: We are a performance-driven company. We strive for excellence and are focused on pursuing best-in-class outcomes. We believe in accountability and ownership and know that our people are at their best when they are empowered to create and deliver results.

Who We Are:
Mattel is a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, UNO, Masters of the Universe, Matchbox, Monster High, MEGA and Polly Pocket, as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital and live experiences. Our products are sold in collaboration with the world's leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential.
Mattel's award-winning workplace culture has been recognized by Forbes, Fast Company, Newsweek, Great Place to Work, TIME, and more.
Visit us at https://jobs.mattel.com/ and www.instagram.com/MattelCareers.
Mattel is an Equal Opportunity Employer where we want you to bring your authentic self to work every day. We welcome all job seekers, and all applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran and protected veteran status, disability status, and or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state or local law.
Pursuant to the Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act, qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment.
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