Principal Backend Engineer

People Can Fly is one of the leading independent AAA games development studios with an international team of hundreds of talented individuals working from offices located in Poland, UK, Ireland, US, and Canada and from all over the world thanks to our remote work programs.

Founded in 2002, we made our mark on the shooter genre with titles such as Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Outriders. We are one of the most experienced Unreal Engine studios in the industry and we are expanding it with in-house solutions called PCF Framework.

Our creative teams are currently working on several exciting titles: Gemini is our new project being developed with Square Enix; Maverick is a Triple-A game developed in collaboration with Microsoft Corporation; Bifrost & Victoria are projects we're growing in the self-publishing model. We are also busy working on a VR and undisclosed projects, more information on those to come later.

With over 20 years of experience, PCF sets out to explore new horizons. We aim to combine our expertise with the creativity of the best and most forward-thinking talents in the industry to work together on the new generation of action games for the global gaming community.

If you decide to accompany us on this journey, you’ll have a chance to perfect your craft and expand your knowledge, working alongside leaders in the industry to bring a brand-new unique experience to the players worldwide.

Core:

• Propose, implement and own tasks and features in a timely fashion to a high standard of quality.
• Provide regular updates to the production for your software and reach out to other parties who will be impacted by your work.
• Collaborating with PCF Framework to define the direction of the shared components, and augment the stability, features and performance of existing shared modules.
• Propose, design and implement technical solutions to complex problems presented by the production.
• Produce highly efficient systems and improve the performance of other systems.
• Breakdown your own tasks, update your progress, ask questions and raise issues to relevant stakeholders as well as proposing solutions when needed.
• Work closely with the project Architect to implement high quality features and code, proactively identify and address risks with the team.
• Partner with leads to define priority management for features.
• Proactively participate and approve code reviews.
• Share knowledge with the rest of the studio.
• Occasionally support leads in recruitment projects with HR collaboration.
• Define the best practices and technical solutions used at the company.
• Work with QA teams to define testing requirements for new and existing features.

Backend:

• Establish long-term vision and technical plans for ensuring stability and reusability of the backend platform.
• Advise and facilitate architectural and technological decision making.
• Design and implement backend services for the PCF Online Services Platform, tailored for online gaming.
• Provide tools and frameworks for smooth backend service integration with game clients and servers.
• Implement protective measures against threats and ensure adherence to data protection laws.
• Regularly refine the performance of online services, focusing on server efficiency and user load management.
• Resolve technical issues and continuously support and update online services for stable performance.

• Excellent primary programming language skills.
• Proficient with Source Control and Code Review tools (Swarm, Perforce, Git, etc.).
• Good knowledge of Project Management Software (JIRA, Confluence, etc.).
• 8+ years of experience in the production of high-scalability online services. Domain doesn't have to be video games as long as user numbers are high: scale matters above all else.
• Have been involved in at least 1 or 2 shipped products or services from start to end including LiveOps.
• Other relevant domains to look into: content distribution, ad-tech, news, mobile gaming, finance.
• FAANG (or adjacent) experience is highly sought after.
• Strong knowledge with Docker, Kubernetes and at least one cloud-native environment (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform).
• Extensive proficiency in multiple programming languages such as Python, Ruby, C#, Java and Rust/Go/Kotlin.
• Proficiency in SQL databases (e.g. Postgres) and Redis; both with an emphasis on scalability and resource efficiency.
• C/C++ skills: intermediate to advanced (not necessarily engine programmer-level; should be able to find, debug and fix their way around a C/C++ codebase).
• Understanding of client-server methodology.
• Deep understanding of scalability, security and maintainability considerations.
• Ability to write secure, reliable, understandable code.
• Strong mentoring skills.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in English.

Nice to have:

• Understanding of Unreal Engine for game development
• Experience with OpenAPI and code generation tools
• Experience with monitoring stacks: Prometheus, InfluxDB, Loki, Grafana
• Video Game-specific experience
• Knowledge of OpenTelemetry for application monitoring

What we offer:

• Private medical healthcare (Vitality) and BUPA dental insurance for PCF's employees and their families.
• Access to wellbeing platform - Gympass for employees and family members.
• Online Polish and English language classes.
• Access to the pension scheme.
• Flexible working hours.
• Free virtual health and mental wellbeing sessions included in the plan for members and their dependents.
• Personal development opportunities and ability to work in a global environment.
• Work in a creative team with people full of passion for what they do.