Head of Server Engineering

Based in the heart of Leamington Spa, Pixel Toys have spent almost a decade pushing the capabilities of mobile gaming. We have developed multiple award-winning titles, including:  Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War; and we’re now excited to be exclusively working on a new game, unlike ANYTHING we’ve done previously!

As a forward thinking and innovative studio we are always looking for new technologies and techniques to develop and use in our games and make them even more engaging experiences for our customers.

We are excited to continue to grow our team and are always on the lookout for highly talented and motivated individuals, who are passionate about gaming and excited to join us on our ambitious journey!

The Role:

We are seeking an experienced and innovative Head of Server Engineering to take the lead in overseeing the server-side architecture, development, and maintenance of our mobile game projects. In this role, you will report directly to the Technical Director and hold the most senior position within the server engineering team, working closely with Client Leads to ensure the delivery of robust, high-performance server solutions.

As Head of Server Engineering, you will guide and mentor a team of backend engineers, setting the technical direction, defining quality standards, and fostering a culture of collaboration, excellence, and continuous improvement. You will take full ownership of the server-side design, architecture, and implementation; ensuring that scalable, secure, and reliable solutions are delivered on time to meet project goals. Your ability to collaborate with other technical leads will be essential as you work together to create seamless integration between server, client, and web components.

Innovation will be a key focus in this role, as you will continuously evaluate and adopt new technologies and techniques to enhance the scalability, security, and efficiency of our server architecture. Leading efforts to optimize server performance, you will ensure that the system can handle the growing demands of an expanding player base. In addition to this, you will identify and address any technical or process bottlenecks, driving improvements in development pipelines and workflows to increase efficiency.

You will also play a crucial role in the launch and live operations phases, overseeing server stability and managing continuous integration and deployment (CICD) pipelines to ensure a smooth player experience. Recruitment as well as team development will also fall under your responsibility, where you will mentor junior engineers, help identify talent needs and contribute to building a strong, high-performing team.

On top of this, you will also contribute to the long-term strategic planning and roadmaps for the server department, ensuring that the architecture evolves to meet the future demands of our game services.

About you:

You will be joining us with extensive experience in server-side development and therefore be able to demonstrate your ability to lead and guide server engineering efforts, make key technical decisions, and lead teams in developing high-performance, scalable server systems. A proven track record is essential, ideally with experience as a server lead on multiple mobile game projects, including at least one successful launch. You will have had success in delivering robust server solutions that perform well in live game environments.

Expertise in server technologies is crucial, with proficiency in server architecture, cloud platforms, and services such as AWS or Azure. Familiarity with backend frameworks and the ability to build secure, scalable systems are important for handling the unique infrastructure needs of mobile games. With being well-versed in C#.Net, any familiarity with other server-side languages like Java or Python will also be highly beneficial, offering additional versatility in solving complex problems.

A strong understanding of scalability and performance is vital, particularly in applying techniques for load testing and optimising server performance for high-traffic environments. You will therefore be capable of designing systems that can handle the increasing demands of a mobile game with a large player base. You will have have a sound knowledge of database management, both SQL and NoSQL, with a focus on optimising and managing data to ensure efficient handling and storage within the server infrastructure.

Live operations expertise is critical, especially with continuous deployment pipelines and live monitoring platforms such as Jenkins, CodeBuild, Spinnaker, Datadog, or Kibana. This experience will ensure that you can maintain server stability, uptime and performance during live game operations.

Finally, a passion for gaming is a must! You will have a deep enthusiasm for gaming and a desire to push the boundaries of what is possible on the mobile platform, driving innovation and excellence in every project.

What can Pixel Toys offer?

At Pixel Toys we are proud of the progressive, inclusive, and collaborative working environment we have created; a place where everyone has the opportunity to be themselves and is welcomed and valued for who they are and what they contribute. We have some fantastic benefits we offer our employees… Here are just some of them:

• Competitive salary, reviewed annually
• 25 days annual leave, excluding bank holidays
• Discretionary Bonus Scheme
• Up to 3 additional long service days (duvet days!)
• Private Medical Insurance (including optical and dental)
• Company Pension scheme
• Death in Service benefit
• Regular socials including epic summer and Christmas parties!
• Staff training and development
• Quarterly Wellness days (On-site massages and more)
• Flexi-time working hours

Here at Pixel Toys we strive to provide an inclusive environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work and join in driving our joint success. Recruitment selection is based on skills, experience and a good Pixel Toys mission and values fit.