Why this role exists
We’re scaling fast. Our backend systems power real-time multiplayer games and virtual worlds used by millions — and we need senior engineers who can build at scale, ship with confidence, and elevate our backend team’s velocity.You’ll join as a Senior Backend Engineer, owning complex systems, contributing to architectural decisions, and writing code that other engineers want to build on. You’ll partner with a Lead Backend Engineer, but operate with high autonomy — driving projects from idea to deployment.
What you’ll do
- Own major backend features and systems, end-to-end
- Write clean, maintainable, well-tested code in Python (async) and/or Go
- Propose pragmatic architectural improvements and design patterns
- Optimize for scale, reliability, observability, and cost
- Collaborate with frontend, product, and platform teams to ship features fast
- Raise the bar through code reviews, mentoring, and technical excellence
- Take full ownership of your work — no hand-holding, no babysitting
Our Stack
- Languages: Async typed Python, Go
- Infra: Kubernetes (kOps), AWS, Helm, Terraform
- Data: MongoDB, Redis, ElasticSearch, OpenSearch
- Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, Kibana
- Protocols: REST, WebSocket Secure (WSS), FlatBuffers
- Architecture: Microservices, event-based systems
You might be a fit if you...
- Have 4–7 years of backend experience, ideally in production systems at scale
- Know how to ship working software — not just write elegant code
- Think in systems, not endpoints: caching, scaling, observability, failure modes
- Don’t need hand-holding — you figure it out and move fast
- Give great code reviews and lift others with clarity and empathy
- Get energy from solving hard problems with great people
This role is not for you if...
- You wait for tickets instead of asking why
- You need a manager to keep you on track
- You don’t care about how your work affects users or the team
- You’re more interested in being clever than being effective
How we work at Pocket Worlds
We are a team of builders. We move fast, challenge each other directly, and take ownership over everything we touch. We care deeply about impact and we work hard because we love the mission: connecting people through shared experiences.We don’t do bloated process. We don’t do hierarchy. We hire smart, hungry people and give them room to execute. If that excites you, you’ll do the best work of your life here.Compensation Range: $100K - $160K
