Lead Backend Engineer

Accountabilities: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of backend engineers through regular one-to-ones, performance feedback, goal setting, and career development. Establish and improve engineering processes, including sprint planning, project estimation, code reviews, hiring, on-call rotations, and bug triage. Drive backend architecture and technical strategy while remaining actively involved in developing and maintaining critical production systems. Ensure the reliability, scalability, performance, and cost efficiency of backend infrastructure, including service-level objectives, monitoring, incident response, and operational practices. Support engineers in resolving complex technical challenges, reviewing code, and maintaining high engineering standards. Collaborate with game design, production, marketing, QA, and gameplay teams to scope features and align technical execution with the creative vision. Partner with the Technical Director to define and deliver a realistic technical roadmap, communicating engineering progress, risks, priorities, and trade-offs to studio leadership. Foster a healthy, collaborative, and high-trust engineering culture that encourages curiosity, adaptability, ownership, and continuous improvement. Requirements: At least 6 years of professional backend engineering experience, ideally within the gaming industry or live-service environments. At least 2 years of direct experience managing, mentoring, or leading software engineers. Strong programming skills in Kotlin or Java, with practical familiarity with Kubernetes, Grafana, Terraform, and load-testing tools. Proven experience designing, scaling, and operating backend systems for a global user base, including expertise in debugging, monitoring, alerting, and performance optimization. Strong understanding of software architecture, system design principles, and design patterns, combined with the ability to balance technical excellence with pragmatic solutions. Experience collaborating cross-functionally with design, marketing, and production teams on a shipped or in-development game. Ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on development and take ownership of complex technical challenges in a lean engineering environment. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders and align teams around shared objectives. A collaborative and adaptable mindset, with sound judgment, intellectual curiosity, openness to feedback, and a genuine commitment to helping teammates succeed. Nice to have: Experience leading a live-service game through launch and post-launch operations, as well as previous experience in an independent or mid-sized game studio. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada. Visa sponsorship and work authorization assistance are not available. Candidates must be able to work within North American time zones (EST–PST). The position is primarily sedentary and involves extended computer-based work. Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities. Benefits: Annual salary: $196,000–$203,000, depending on skills, experience, and level. Equity opportunities through stock options. Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, with 100% coverage for employees and 90% coverage for dependents. Life insurance and short-term and long-term disability coverage. Retirement contributions through a 401(k) plan for U.S. employees or RRSP and DPSP contributions for Canadian employees. Paid parental leave. Fully remote working arrangements within North American time zones. Transparent compensation practices and a skills-based career development framework. A collaborative, inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives, professional growth, and continuous learning.