Lead Game Developer (hybrid – Amsterdam)

CoolGames is seeking an experienced Lead Game Developer to own client-side technology for highly scalable web games. This role involves mentoring developers, guiding technical decisions, and elevating engineering quality across multiple HTML5 projects. The Lead Game Developer will solve complex technical challenges, set the direction for the HTML5 engine, and collaborate with various teams to ensure timely delivery and high-quality player experiences, while also coaching team members for growth.

Must Have

• Own the client-side game tech stack, architecture, standards, quality, and long-term evolution.
• Make and guide high-impact technical decisions (performance, architecture, platform compatibility, tooling, rendering, state management).
• Dive into complex problems and lead solutions.
• Set clear expectations for developers and provide constructive feedback.
• Coach developers in ownership, quality, problem-solving, and professional habits.
• Implement, optimise, debug, and maintain core client features across HTML5 games.
• Ensure releases are stable, performant, and meet player experience expectations.
• Review code, requirements, and contribute to engineering process improvements.
• Collaborate with backend and platform teams for smooth integration.
• Ensure games run reliably across different browsers, platforms, and performance profiles.
• 7+ years of professional programming experience, ideally in game development.
• Full-stack understanding of HTML5 game development.
• Extensive experience with JavaScript / TypeScript and web rendering frameworks (Cocos2d, PIXI, Phaser, Three.js, or similar).
• Strong architectural skills with a focus on scalability, performance, and maintainability.
• A track record of mentoring or guiding other developers.
• Experience making technical decisions in a commercial environment.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to set expectations clearly.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum and version control (git).

Good to Have

• Experience with large-scale casual games.
• Experience with platform integrations, or multi-device compatibility.
• Contributions to internal tools, shared libraries, or game engine improvements.

Perks & Benefits

• Market-competitive salaries
• Health care insurance
• Travel costs compensation
• Company pension plan
• Sport allowance
• Flexible hybrid working environment
• Opportunity to work with major game platforms (Netflix, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, Discord)
• Work on high-quality casual games played by millions
• Open, informal, and international company culture

(32 – 40 hours, hybrid – Amsterdam)

Are you an experienced game developer who enjoys solving deep technical challenges, mentoring others, and shaping the direction of our game client technology? Do you want your work, and your leadership, to impact millions of players worldwide?

Join as our new Lead Game Developer and help drive the future of highly scalable, high-quality web games.

About the Role

As our Lead Game Developer, you will take ownership of the client-side technology powering our games. You will mentor the developers in your team, guide technical decision-making, and help elevate engineering quality across multiple projects.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role: you will help solve the hardest challenges in modern web game development, and set the technical direction for our HTML5 engine/tooling ecosystem.

You will collaborate closely with game developers, designers, artists, QA engineers, backend engineers, and platform specialists. You help the team deliver on time, maintain high quality, and continuously improve codebases, workflows, and cross-team collaboration.

A big part of the role is building people up: setting clear expectations, coaching team members, giving direct feedback, and helping them grow into more autonomous, dependable contributors.

You keep delivery predictable and the technical vision aligned with business needs.

What You Will Do

Technical Leadership

• Own the client-side game tech stack, architecture, standards, quality, and long-term evolution.
• Make and guide high-impact technical decisions (performance, architecture, platform compatibility, tooling, rendering, state management).
• Dive into the most complex, technical, or ambiguous problems and lead the path to solutions.
• Ensure technical design discussions are structured, realistic, and aligned with constraints and business priorities.
• Identify risks early and work with producers and leads to maintain predictable delivery.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Set clear expectations for developers and ensure alignment through ongoing direct conversations.
• Give timely and constructive feedback, both when expectations are exceeded and when they are not met.
• Coach developers in ownership, quality, problem-solving, and professional habits.
• Delegate effectively: give people responsibility that helps them grow while ensuring delivery stays on track.
• Support a culture where team members raise issues early, think in solutions, and stay part of the problem-solving process.

Hands-on Game Development

• Help the team to implement, optimise, debug, and maintain core client features across our portfolio of HTML5 games.
• Work closely with QA to ensure releases are stable, performant, and meet player experience expectations.
• Review code, review requirements, and contribute to the ongoing improvement of engineering processes and internal tooling.
• Collaborate with backend and platform teams to ensure smooth integration and platform compatibility.
• Ensure our games run reliably across different browsers, platforms, and performance profiles.

Requirements

About you

You combine deep technical experience with strong leadership instincts. You take ownership, communicate clearly, and raise issues early. You are dependable, pragmatic, and comfortable making decisive calls when needed. You understand the reality of commercial game development and know how to balance quality with delivery.

Your colleagues would describe you as someone they can rely on, as someone who listens, builds clarity, and helps others succeed.

You Are a Strong Fit If You Have:

• 7+ years of professional programming experience, ideally in game development
• Full-stack understanding of HTML5 game development
• Extensive experience with JavaScript / TypeScript and web rendering frameworks (Any of these: Cocos2d, PIXI, Phaser, Three.js, or similar).
• Strong architectural skills with a focus on scalability, performance, and maintainability.
• A track record of mentoring or guiding other developers.
• Experience making technical decisions in a commercial environment.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to set expectations clearly.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum and version control (git).

Bonus Points

• Experience with large-scale casual games.
• Experience with platform integrations, or multi-device compatibility.
• Contributions to internal tools, shared libraries, or game engine improvements.

Benefits

About CoolGames

At CoolGames, we’re proud to be a leading international HTML5 game studio, working with some of the world’s biggest ‘Big Tech’ game platforms, such as Reddit, Netflix, Discord, Facebook and Microsoft Play. We also work with famous games IP such as Battleship, Angry Birds and Monopoly.

CoolGames is part of Keesing, the world’s largest Braintainment company. Keesing is a financially strong publisher of engaging sudokus, crosswords and many other puzzles & games with a presence in over 20 countries headquartered in The Netherlands.

With the CoolGames HQ in Amsterdam, supported by our global remote teams, we offer market-competitive salaries, the chance to contribute to successful casual games that are played by millions and work directly with some of the biggest brands in the world. We believe in creativity, collaboration and delivering world-class gaming experiences, while giving you the choice to either join our Amsterdam studio or become part of our remote teams.

If you want to grow your career in a profitable, internationally recognized company, work closely with world-famous partners and be part of a highly professional international team – CoolGames is the right place for you.

Working at CoolGames

We are a company which believes it’s important to constantly improve and innovate as we strive to be the best. We work in an informal environment with enthusiastic and smart individuals from all over the world to design and create great games. We have a hybrid work schedule where we strike a balance between face to face collaboration and efficient remote work.

What we can offer you

• An international team of 50+ professionals from almost 20 different countries;
• Work closely with some of the biggest (upcoming) game platforms in the world (Netflix, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, discord and more) on high-quality casual games that are played by millions of gamers;
• Competitive remuneration, including health care insurance, travel costs compensation, a company pension plan and a sport allowance;
• Market salary;
• A flexible hybrid working environment;
• A very open, informal and international company culture where everyone can make a difference.

Apply for this job