Lead Game Security Engineer

Rebellion; Town of Oxford; On-site; CAD 169,000 - 282,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private Medical Insurance

Enhanced Pension Scheme

Life Assurance

EAP & mental wellbeing

Job summary

Rebellion, a veteran independent game developer, is hiring a Lead Game Security Engineer to shape security architecture across Asura titles and build a new security team from the ground up. The role is based at our Oxford, Warwick or Runcorn studios, with relocation support and a strong, creative work culture.

You will lead a team, design robust defenses against cheating and piracy, and collaborate with engineering and QA to ensure safe releases.

Qualifications

• Extensive track record delivering anti-cheat and DRM for C++ software in senior or leadership roles.
• Strong expertise in anti-cheat techniques and DRM technologies and mentoring others.
• Experience reverse engineering and analysing game cheats and DRM circumvention.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a team of developers and analysts to defend against cheating, piracy and threats.
• Develop and own a framework covering threat monitoring, investigation and mitigation.
• Develop in-house capability for reverse engineering and analyzing malicious code.
• Collaborate with code teams to embed security best practices in development.
• Support QA to validate and safely release defensive software.

Skills

Anti-cheat

DRM

Security leadership

C++

Tools

IDA Pro

Ghidra

OpenSSL

Wireshark

Job description

We want you to #JOINTHEREBELLION!

For 30 years we’ve been independently developing and publishing incredible video games at our multiple studios founded by Jason & Chris Kingsley, but Rebellion is more than just games. We have our own film studio, we create board games, publish books, and through 2000AD, publish comics and graphic novels such as the amazing Judge Dredd.

We’re hiring a Lead Game Security Engineer to join at the start of a large new project, with the opportunity to shape the security architecture used across all Asura titles and build a new Game Security team from the ground up.

Based within our in-house Tech Team, you will benefit from working closely with other engineering and project teams to research, reverse engineer, design and implement solutions that deliver robust defences against cheating, piracy, and other attacks, protecting both the player experience and the business as threats and tactics evolve.

Responsibilities:

• Build and manage a team of developers and analysts to develop and maintain software to defend against cheating, piracy and other threats.

• Develop and own process framework which encompasses the whole lifecycle of managing security threats from monitoring, investigation and identification through to successful mitigation.
• Develop in-house capability for the utilisation of reverse engineering and other techniques to analyse and report on malicious code.
• Work with broader code teams to establish a development environment in which security best practices are embedded.
• Supporting the QA department in building the capability to validate and safely release defensive software.

This role can be based at our Oxford, Warwick or Runcorn studios, each offering a creative and relaxed atmosphere where teamwork drives our success. We can provide a relocation package, including movingassistance, temporary accommodation and full support to ensure a smooth transition to yournew environment.

• Extensive track record of safely and successfully delivering anti-cheat and DRM functionality for C++ software in a senior or leadership role
• Strong expertise in implementing anti-cheat techniques and digital rights management technologies and the ability to further develop that expertise in team members.
• Demonstrable background and experience in reverse engineering and analysing game cheats, digital rights management circumvention and other similar abuse vectors
• Deep understanding of relevant technical tools and standards (for instance PE and ELF file formats and software such as IDA Pro or Ghidra)

Nice to have:

• Experience shipping or operating online/multiplayer/live-service games at scale.
• Knowledge of cryptography and network protocols, plus tools such as OpenSSL and Wireshark.
• Published security research, responsible disclosure, or public white-hat work.
• Familiarity with the Windows Resiliency Initiative.

We offer an extensive benefits package to our team including:

• 22 days holidays + Christmas closure (typically 4 days) & Bank holidays (increasing with service at 5 years - one day each year until you reach 31 days)
• Private Medical Insurance, healthcare cash plan, including dental and Vision
• Life Assurance, Income Protection & Critical Illness Cover
• Enhanced Family Leave
• Interest Free, Tax-Free loans
• Enhanced Pension Scheme
• EAP a range of Mental Health and Wellbeing Support
• Plus loads more... including a wide range of discounts, freebies, and social events!

Right to Work Statement

This role is only open to applicants who have the permanent right to work in the UK. We are unable to provide or take over visa sponsorship, either now or in the future. Applicants must therefore be able to demonstrate their ongoing eligibility to work in the UK without the need for employer sponsorship.

Life at Our Oxford HQ

Our riverside headquarters in Oxford places you a short walk away from the city centre. Renowned for its rich historical backdrop and esteemed educational institutions, Oxford offers a unique blend of tradition and modernity, with its beautiful architecture and green spaces.

Oxford also boasts excellent transport links, making it easy to navigate both the city and the wider country. The city’s train station, just a short walk from our studio, offers frequent services to London, as well as direct routes to major cities like Birmingham, Manchester, and Reading and we also offer free parking at the studio.

Our open-plan office promotes teamwork and innovation, with regular interaction with senior management and other departments, alongside access to free hot drinks, a handy tuck shop onsite and a range of local pubs, cafes and dining options nearby helping make every workday enjoyable!

Inside Rebellion

Whichever team you join at Rebellion we are proud of our open, friendly, and creative atmosphere. We love what we do, and we have fun doing it! As a big indie developer, we have complete creative freedom over our titles which allows us to work on a massive variety of projects across all the major platforms.

Find out more about us here

Our size, stability, and the variety of in-house expertise across multiple industries, makes Rebellion completely unique! We work in our own way, and we celebrate that as the key to our success. We foster an inclusive culture where you are encouraged to be yourself, to express your creativity and your talent. We are people focused and will support you in every way to can be the best at what you do. We recognise the importance of enjoying what you do and having a healthy work-life balance. We offer a friendly, creative, and relaxed working atmosphere, with sensibly managed projects and a wide variety of benefits and development opportunities for all our teams to ensure you are fully supported with your physical and Mental Well-being.

We are actively recruiting for a diverse team and continue to add to our culture of growth and inclusion. Rebellion encourages innovation in all areas, and we look forward to hearing how you can help us to be better. We encourage all demographics of culture, gender, ethnicity, neurodiversity and beyond, because a representative team makes better products.

If you are interested in working at Rebellion, but this role doesn’t sound quite like you, we’re recruiting for a range of positions across the studio and we’re always happy to receive speculative applications via our website. Visit our Careers website to view all our live vacancies: Rebellion: Careers

#LI-Onsite