Principal Backend Programmer - Shared Technology (On-site/Remote within the UK)

We are looking for a Principal Programmer for our Infrastructure team, which is part of nDreams’ Shared Technology Group.

In this role, you will develop and maintain backend and cloud services for use across nDreams’ game teams. You’ll be responsible for the architecture of key backend systems hosted in AWS. Your work will be used by multiple live service VR Games.

The role reports to the Infrastructure Director and will work regularly with peers in the Shared Technology group, with the VP of Technology, and will collaborate directly with talented tech teams in each studio.

The rundown:

• Permanent role
• Full time (37.5 hours per week)
• Remote or Hybrid in Brighton or Farnborough
• Competitive Salary and Benefits

Key responsibilities:

• Architect, implement and maintain scalable backend services for our games.

• Develop and integrate online technologies that enable multiplayer experiences in VR.
• Build and integrate scalable APIs that connect players around the world.
• Plan and estimate effectively, for yourself and other technical staff.
• Triage, delegate, and manage programming priorities through multiple phases of development.
• Review designs and specifications, catching issues before work begins.
• Collaborate with technical leads across our game studios.
• Communicate the architecture of our shared backend systems, describing how multiple systems interact. Tailor information for technical or non-technical audiences.

The skills you’ll need:

• Able to write robust, maintainable and scalable code in C#.
• Experience using dotnet core, asp.net core to develop web API's and backend services.
• Proficient deploying and managing game backend services on AWS (Amazon Web Services).
• Understanding of modern live-service infrastructure used in game development.
• Broad working knowledge of online services and cloud infrastructure.
• Ability to profile/optimise backend systems to improve performance or reduce resource utilization.
• A good knowledge of logging, tracing and metrics.
• Good communication skills with an ability to communicate complex technical information to non-technical staff.
• An empathetic individual who can collaborate with a multi-discipline team, understanding the needs of the game and exchanging ideas/technical plans with the team.

The nice to haves:

• Experience working with Perforce Helixcore and Git.
• Experience working with Kubernetes.
• Experience working with containers.
• Experience working with event streaming and message brokers.

We are nDreams – we develop and publish the world’s most immersive VR games. You may know us as the developer behind Synapse, Phantom: Covert Ops, Fracked, and Frenzies. As a publisher, we have also supported the release of other studio’s titles including Little Cities, PowerWash Simulator VR, and Vendetta Forever. With humble beginnings as an independent studio, we combine amazing projects with a personal, caring touch. We’ve got more incredible titles to be announced soon! 

We believe the best workplaces and games are created by diverse, happy and safe teams. We're committed to building a culture centred on respect, wellbeing and balance. It's crucial we make our games and industry more accessible to underrepresented communities. We strive to live this through the people we hire, the experiences we create and the causes we support. 

We want everyone to have the opportunity to bring their best, authentic self to work. Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments during the interview process by emailing interviewing@ndreams.com or speaking to your nDreams recruiter. For more information about reasonable adjustments, check out this guidance from Scope.  

We offer great perks, including flexible hours, duvets days, your birthday off, dedicated personal development time and support, as well as regular socials. Beyond this, there’s an excellent holiday offering, pension scheme, health insurance, life cover and much more.