Lead Game Services Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California.

📋 Description

• Lead and oversee backend engineering teams across studios in the US and EU.

• Take ownership of the architecture for studio-hosted services and infrastructure, which includes defining service boundaries, data models, APIs, and deployment topology.

• Develop and assess technical designs and backend implementations for new services and game features.

• Organize backend tasks, manage the backlog, estimate workloads, and establish sprint priorities.

• Set engineering standards for code reviews, testing protocols, documentation practices, and on-call preparedness.

• Ensure alignment of backend roadmaps with the studio's release timelines.

• Diagnose, resolve, and deploy backend hotfixes as needed.

• Maintain continuous integration pipelines and automate deployment processes.

• Manage monitoring, alerting, dashboards, runbooks, and incident reporting.

• Oversee the backend on-call rotation and respond to backend incidents promptly.

• Conduct load testing on services, address performance bottlenecks, and optimize service costs.

• Implement and test failover strategies and disaster recovery plans.

• Integrate proprietary studio services with 2K and external platform services.

• Troubleshoot cross-service issues in collaboration with external engineering partners.

• Report directly to the Director of Online Services.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in server-side development.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

• Experience leading or managing backend engineers on a released AAA title, ideally in a live-service or competitive multiplayer game.

• Proficient in C# and well-versed in Python or Go.

• Strong understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, and the design of scalable services.

• Practical experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB or DocumentDB, and Redis.

• Familiarity with deploying and managing production services on AWS.

• Knowledge of Kubernetes, Helm, and microservice architectures.

• Experience in profiling and optimizing distributed systems, including database queries and service calls.

• Knowledge of real-time messaging protocols such as MQTT and API gateways.

• Experience with C++ and Unreal Engine.

• Understanding of online game systems such as matchmaking, social features, progression, commerce, and telemetry.

• Experience managing a live title, including incident response, capacity planning, and cost management.

• Legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future employer sponsorship.

🏝️ Benefits

• Bonus and/or equity awards may be part of the overall compensation package.

• Access to medical, financial, and/or additional benefits.

• Reasonable accommodations provided for qualified individuals with disabilities.

• Commitment to equal employment opportunities and fostering an inclusive workplace.