Principal Software Engineer

The Multiplayer Group; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading gaming company in the UK is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for backend services. You will lead the architecture of major game titles, mentor the engineering team, and act as the key contact for external clients. Candidates must have experience in game development and architecting distributed applications, alongside familiarity with various programming languages such as Java and Golang. The position involves collaboration with project managers and production teams to ensure successful project delivery.

Qualifications

• Experience in game development and shipping multiple live games with high concurrent user counts.
• Proven experience architecting distributed applications with high user bases.
• Production experience with at least one of Java, Golang, C#, C++, Kotlin.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical architecture for major game titles.
• Act as the engineering contact for external co-dev clients.
• Mentor the engineering team and help develop junior engineers.

Skills

Game development experience

Architecting distributed applications

Java

Golang

C#

Cloud platforms

Kubernetes

Docker

SQL

NoSQL

CI/CD pipelines

Tools

AWS

Terraform

Google Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Job description

principal software engineer – backend services

You’ll be working in a team of backend engineers across MPG to drive the delivery and deployment of backend services for industry-leading game projects. You will act as a key engineering contact for external co-dev clients, collaborating with the Technical Director and Lead to architect solutions that balance technical idealism with production pragmatism.

You will define the technical architecture for major game titles, ensure implementation quality, and mentor the engineering team.

Act as the engineering contact point between MPG and the client, working alongside the Project Manager and Engineering Leadership

Translate client requirements into tasks for yourself and team members

Make the right trade-offs to design systems based on performance, time, and budget

Mentor and delegate pieces of work to other team members to help develop them as engineers

Create estimated cost spreadsheets for online services based on projected concurrent users

Work with the Lead and Production to communicate risks, benefits, and future roadmaps

Active mentorship of the engineering team towards professional accreditation (e.g., AWS Certification) and technical leadership.

What we'll need from you:

Experience in game development and having shipped multiple live games (or similar products) with a high concurrent user count

Proven experience architecting distributed applications with a high concurrent user base (hundreds of thousands), ideally proven with a released title or robust load tests

Production experience with at least one of Java, Golang, C#, C++, Kotlin; experience with Python, Node.js and React is desirable

Solid database experience, with the ability to work effectively with both SQL and NoSQL databases

Proven experience with cloud platforms: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure; having an AWS Certification (Professional level) would be advantageous

Proven experience building backend infrastructure using infrastructure as code tools, e.g. Terraform

Proven experience using Kubernetes and Docker to build products at scale

Ability to autonomously architect and design online services based on a specification

Ability to navigate changes calmly and manage multiple pieces of potentially confidential information

Excellent time management and ability to work autonomously

Clear and effective communicator with the ability to discuss technical strategy with non-technical stakeholders and adapt to client needs

Experience building CI/CD pipelines from scratch or improving existing client solutions

Awareness of security/cheating implications of technology choices

• Experience using Gen AI for code generation

What would help:

Deep expertise in at least one relevant area of backend technology, e.g. DevOps, Microservices, Cloud Architecture

Understanding of how a backend service integrates with the game – experience with Unreal or Unity would be useful but not required

An understanding of how to use LLMs to process and query structured and unstructured data