As Technical Director - Backend Engineering, you will be responsible for driving the vision, architecture, and execution of LightFury's server-side infrastructure. You will build and lead a high-performing backend team that will power everything from multiplayer systems and live services to player progression, matchmaking, analytics, and security. This is a hands-on leadership role ideal for someone who thrives in technical challenges, understands the unique demands of mobile-first AAA games, and can guide both high-level design and low-level implementation.

Responsibilities :

- Define and lead the overall backend architecture and cloud infrastructure strategy for mobile-first AAA games.

- Architect scalable and secure systems for multiplayer gameplay, leaderboards, matchmaking, account management, social features, and LiveOps.

- Recruit, mentor, and manage a team of backend engineers, fostering a high-quality engineering culture.

- Collaborate with gameplay, design, product, and analytics teams to ensure smooth backend integration and feature delivery.

- Build systems that can support millions of concurrent players, real-time data, and global reach.

- Oversee deployment, monitoring, performance optimization, and incident response processes.

- Enforce best practices in architecture, code quality, testing, CI/CD, security, and cloud operations.

- Ensure compliance with data regulations (e. g., GDPR, COPPA) and third-party service integrations (e. g., identity providers, payment gateways).

- Stay up to date with backend technologies, cloud-native services, and gaming backend stacks to drive innovation.

Requirements :

- 10+ years of professional experience in backend development, with 5+ years in a technical leadership or architect role.

- Proven experience in architecting scalable systems in mobile gaming or real-time online games, especially at AAA or large-scale studios.

- Deep expertise in backend languages (e. g., Node.js, Go, Java, Python) and database technologies (e. g., MongoDB, Redis, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB).

- Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and modern cloud-native architectures (Kubernetes, Docker, microservices).

- Experience with multiplayer game backend systems such as Photon, PlayFab, Nakama, GameSparks, or custom solutions.

- Familiar with monitoring tools, alerting systems, logging pipelines, and incident response practices.

- Expertise in RESTful APIs, WebSockets, gRPC, and data synchronization for real-time systems.

- Strong grasp of security best practices, including authentication, rate limiting, encryption, and fraud prevention.

- Excellent communication, cross-functional collaboration, and project management skills.

Desirable Skills :

- Prior experience building cross-platform game services (mobile + console + PC).

- Familiarity with LiveOps, AB testing, player segmentation, and analytics pipelines.

- Knowledge of serverless architectures and event-driven systems.

- Experience integrating with external services like Unity/Unreal clients, platform SDKs (Google Play, Apple Game Center), payment APIs, and social logins.

- Passion for games and an understanding of how backend systems affect game feel and user experience.