Technical Team Lead / Lead Engineer

the hive; Hamburg; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Twin Harbour Interactive in Hamburg, Germany is seeking a Technical Team Lead for our game development department. You will own the technical health of a live strategy title, guiding architecture, code quality, and engineering standards shipped to players worldwide.

You will lead and grow engineers, provide honest feedback, and collaborate with the Producer to align estimates and delivery plans. This is a hands-on leadership role balancing coding excellence with team empowerment.

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on engineering foundation with Unity/C#
• Track record of leading a game or product team as senior engineer
• Experience growing engineers and giving honest feedback

Responsibilities

• Own the technical health of your game, architecture decisions, code quality and engineering standards
• Grow and lead engineers, provide feedback and develop careers
• Own the how with your Producer, align estimates with delivery plan and manage scheduling

Skills

Unity/C#

Lead engineer

English proficiency

Tools

Unity3D

Job description

Join us as Technical Team Lead in our game development department!

At Twin Harbour Interactive we strive to develop high-quality strategy games and make them accessible for all players around the world. In our eyes game development is a promise for fun and entertainment – that’s what we live and aim for!

Innovation is part of our DNA. We actively integrate Artificial Intelligence to reduce repetitive tasks and create space for what really matters: strategic thinking and human connection. We don't just use AI - we look for people who can shape the way we work with it.

As Technical Team Lead, you own the technical health of one of our games - the architecture, the code quality, and the engineering standard the team actually ships to. You're the lead engineer the team looks to when a decision is genuinely hard, and the person accountable for the \"how\" behind everything that goes out the door.

This role reports to the Head of Game Development. You lead and grow the engineers on your game team. You give honest feedback, support their development, and help them build their careers, alongside the technical direction. It's a hands-close leadership role: close enough to the code to earn the team's trust, senior enough to set the bar and hold it.

Your game has its own community, its own history, and its own technical challenges. You get real ownership of it - and the freedom to move at your team's own pace rather than waiting on anyone else.

YOUR MISSION

• Own the technical health of your game - Architecture decisions, code quality, and the engineering standards the team ships to. You hold the technical picture for your title and decide where it goes next.

• Grow and lead your engineers - Performance, feedback, career development, and the day-to-day conditions that let people do their best work. Coach for autonomy, not reliance on you.

• Own the \"how\" with your Producer - You own the \"how\" and the quality of the engineering estimates. Your Producer owns the delivery plan and is accountable for the schedule. You're consulted on \"how long\", with joint sign-off on estimates and a clear veto and escalation path when a date is unrealistic.

• Surface risk early - To your Producer, the Head of Product, and the Head of Game Development, before risks become blockers. No surprises late in a cycle.

• Hold the quality bar in practice - Define \"done\" to include quality, not just delivery. Test early and often, monitor and improve what you ship, and hold the line day to day - escalating when a trade-off needs a call above your level.

• Build for the long term - Protect a sustainable pace over crunch, invest in the developer experience that makes your team faster every day, and treat stability and security as design considerations rather than afterthoughts.

YOUR BACKSTORY

• A strong, hands-on engineering foundation, with solid professional experience in Unity/C#. You're technically credible and comfortable owning the architecture and code for a live game.

• A track record of leading a game or product team as its senior engineer - owning the technical direction and the standard the team ships to, not just producing good work yourself.

• Experience growing engineers - giving honest feedback, developing careers, and creating the conditions for a team to do its best work, including the harder conversations.

• You own the \"how\" and stand behind your estimates: you scope, sequence the engineering work, and are accountable for execution against the plan your Producer owns, pushing back with a veto when a date is unrealistic rather than letting the team walk into a wall.

• A trusted, straight-talking communicator who surfaces problems early and gives peers, reports, and leadership a straight answer.

• Experience shipping and operating live mobile free-to-play games. You understand the technical realities of running a mobile F2P title in production - release cadence, store constraints, and keeping a live game healthy over time.

• Fluent English language skills, both verbal and written.

NICE TO HAVE SKILLS

• Enthusiasm for strategy games and an understanding of what keeps long-term players coming back.

• Deep live-ops experience on long-running titles - a feel for what keeps a codebase healthy across years of seasonal content, events, and updates.

• Firsthand depth in more than one layer of our stack, such as JavaScript/HTML5/TypeScript, PHP, Node.js, or Java, on the client, backend, or game server side.

• Experience navigating shared-vs-independent codebase decisions across titles or teams - shared libraries and versioning, service extraction, forking strategies.

Why You'll Love Working With Us

A Global Team, A Shared Purpose

Our strength lies in our diversity. With over 30 nationalities represented across our two locations, we’re united by a shared passion for strategy games and a bold vision for the future. We celebrate what makes each of us unique–our perspectives, our stories, and the paths that led us here.

Work Your Way

Whether you're crafting code from a harbor-view desk in Hamburg or fine-tuning design details under the Maltese sun, we support flexible hybrid work models that empower you to do your best work –wherever you are.

Grow With Us

At Twin Harbour, your journey matters. Our Career Path Framework and mentorship culture provide the clarity and feedback you need to take the next step –whether you’re deepening your expertise or branching into new disciplines. We invest in your growth with language courses, e-learning platforms, and support for conferences and training.

We’re Human First

We believe that great teams are built on trust, respect, and good humor. From game nights to casual drinks, quiz nights, and karaoke, we don’t just work together –we connect, play, and support each other like a true crew.

Join Twin Harbour Interactive

Where Strategy Meets Vision.

Twin Harbour Interactive is a global strategy game powerhouse, shaping the future of long-term multiplayer gaming. With offices in Hamburg and Malta, we design strategy games that bring people together –across borders and generations.

Whether you’re an expert tactician or an imaginative world-builder, there’s a place here for you to grow, thrive, and leave your mark.