Top Benefits
Extended health & dental insurance.
Hybrid work: remote Ontario, hybrid Toronto.
15 vacation, 5 sick, flex days.
About the role
- Big Viking Games is hiring a Head of Engineering & AI to drive AI-first transformation across our live-service games while providing hands-on engineering leadership for our development teams
- Reporting to the CEO, this role owns the technical roadmap for AI/ML capabilities, game and backend architecture, engineering standards, and infrastructure across the portfolio
- BVG is actively investing in a 2.0 product roadmap, a next-generation rebuild of our games with the potential to significantly expand our addressable market
- We are re-architecting how we work with AI and agentic systems, modernizing our game and backend infrastructure, and rethinking how we deliver personalized, dynamic player experiences
- This role sits at the intersection of applied AI and live-service game engineering, and is responsible for building the technical foundation for what comes next
- Architect and build agentic systems for automated game content production (art, items, events, narrative) and live-ops workflows
- Lead implementation of AI-native features across our games, including intelligent NPCs, dynamic in-game interactions, AI-assisted moderation, and real-time player personalization
- Design and build scalable data pipelines that integrate player behaviour, social graphs, CRM data, and game telemetry to power AI-driven decisions across live ops, monetization, and retention
- Drive adoption of AI tooling and workflows across engineering, game design, art, product, and live-ops teams
- Own the technical roadmap for AI/ML capabilities supporting current titles (YoWorld, FishWorld) and the 2.0 game platform
- Build context engineering systems and infrastructure to enable agentic automation across both internal studio operations and live game environments
- Serve as a key member of the leadership team, translating technical capabilities into business and product strategy
- Own engineering budget priorities and investment trade-offs aligned with studio and game-level goals
- Evaluate and manage third-party technology partnerships, game tech vendors, middleware, and build-vs-buy decisions
- Partner with game design, product, and creative leadership on technical feasibility, architecture decisions, and implementation planning
- Prepare and present technical updates to the CEO and Board, including roadmap progress, risks, and trade-offs
- Provide technical direction for client (Unity) and backend game services teams
- Drive strategy, architecture, and adoption of AI-enabled software development practices across the engineering organization
- Establish engineering standards, workflows, and best practices across the game development lifecycle, from prototyping to live operations
- Own cloud infrastructure strategy, cost optimization, and scaling decisions for live game services
- Ensure live-service reliability, security posture, anti-cheat and fraud controls, and incident management practices
- Elevate DevOps and SRE maturity including build pipelines, deployment automation, observability, and infrastructure-as-code for live games
- Collaborate with data and analytics teams on game telemetry, instrumentation, and player analytics infrastructure
- Hire, mentor, and develop game engineering talent, building technical capabilities across the studio
- This is a rare opportunity to shape the technical direction of a profitable, scaled live-service studio at the exact moment AI is rewriting what is possible in game development. You will have the autonomy to make big bets, the resources to execute, and a team that is ready to move
Benefits
- Extended Health + Dental Insurance: We provide extended health & dental insurance, along with an ample Health and Wellness Spending Account, so that you and your family can prioritize well-being.
- Hybrid Work: We offer various remote positions across Ontario and hybrid positions for team members based in Toronto. Regardless of location, we adapt our work practices to ensure everyone is supported.
- Generous Paid Time Off: Vikings enjoy 15 days of paid vacation and 5 paid sick days annually. We also offer Flex days for hybrid employees who occasionally need to work from home on typical office days.
- Flexible Work Hours: We prioritize collaboration during core working hours, while offering flexibility outside of that to help you manage life’s demands.
- Continuous Learning: We champion self-directed learning and offer support for courses, certifications, and programs that help you grow in your role - and beyond.
- Fair & Evolving Compensation: We’re committed to paying fairly for your role and contributions. Salaries are reviewed twice a year to ensure they stay aligned with your impact and the market.- The ideal candidate is an AI-forward technical leader who combines hands-on applied AI/ML experience with the ability to lead game engineering teams through complex technical challenges
- You thrive in environments where you can architect strategic solutions, move at startup velocity with emerging technologies, and roll up your sleeves to solve hard technical problems
- You are equally comfortable driving organization-wide AI adoption as you are shipping scalable, production-grade game systems
- Track record of building technical infrastructure and platforms from the ground up
- High AI affinity and early adopter mindset; comfortable with rapid technology shifts
- Applied AI/ML expertise with a track record implementing systems in production - must demonstrate hands-on production AI experience beyond exploratory work
- Strong architectural thinking across backend systems, data pipelines, and AI infrastructure
- Proven ability to ship and operate live products at scale with high reliability and performance requirements
- 10-15+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years in senior technical leadership roles, leading technical teams of 20+
- Experience with real-time or interactive application frameworks
- Hands-on experience building and shipping live games on Unity (or directly comparable real-time game engines)
- Background in consumer products with large-scale daily active user bases
- Familiarity with platform economics and user segmentation
Not the right fit? Search for Vice President of Engineering & AI jobs in Toronto, Canada
About Big Viking Games
Entertainment Providers
51-200
Making fans - That's what we're all about!
Since our humble beginnings in 2011, these two words have driven Big Viking Games to become the successful company it is today. We are focused on making our mark by building awesome free-to-play mobile and social games. We're one of the largest independent mobile and social game studios in Canada and a pioneer in mobile HTML5 games!
The company has grown profitably to a team of over 70+ Vikings across two studios in Toronto and London, ON. Prior to 2020, we had 2 studios, but we've now converted to a 100% remote company!
From our beginnings with hits like FishWorld and YoWorld, we strive to become a leader in live operations. Our titles are played by millions of people on iOS, Android, Facebook, and the web.
Similar Jobs
Top Benefits
Extended health & dental insurance.
Hybrid work: remote Ontario, hybrid Toronto.
15 vacation, 5 sick, flex days.
About the role
- Big Viking Games is hiring a Head of Engineering & AI to drive AI-first transformation across our live-service games while providing hands-on engineering leadership for our development teams
- Reporting to the CEO, this role owns the technical roadmap for AI/ML capabilities, game and backend architecture, engineering standards, and infrastructure across the portfolio
- BVG is actively investing in a 2.0 product roadmap, a next-generation rebuild of our games with the potential to significantly expand our addressable market
- We are re-architecting how we work with AI and agentic systems, modernizing our game and backend infrastructure, and rethinking how we deliver personalized, dynamic player experiences
- This role sits at the intersection of applied AI and live-service game engineering, and is responsible for building the technical foundation for what comes next
- Architect and build agentic systems for automated game content production (art, items, events, narrative) and live-ops workflows
- Lead implementation of AI-native features across our games, including intelligent NPCs, dynamic in-game interactions, AI-assisted moderation, and real-time player personalization
- Design and build scalable data pipelines that integrate player behaviour, social graphs, CRM data, and game telemetry to power AI-driven decisions across live ops, monetization, and retention
- Drive adoption of AI tooling and workflows across engineering, game design, art, product, and live-ops teams
- Own the technical roadmap for AI/ML capabilities supporting current titles (YoWorld, FishWorld) and the 2.0 game platform
- Build context engineering systems and infrastructure to enable agentic automation across both internal studio operations and live game environments
- Serve as a key member of the leadership team, translating technical capabilities into business and product strategy
- Own engineering budget priorities and investment trade-offs aligned with studio and game-level goals
- Evaluate and manage third-party technology partnerships, game tech vendors, middleware, and build-vs-buy decisions
- Partner with game design, product, and creative leadership on technical feasibility, architecture decisions, and implementation planning
- Prepare and present technical updates to the CEO and Board, including roadmap progress, risks, and trade-offs
- Provide technical direction for client (Unity) and backend game services teams
- Drive strategy, architecture, and adoption of AI-enabled software development practices across the engineering organization
- Establish engineering standards, workflows, and best practices across the game development lifecycle, from prototyping to live operations
- Own cloud infrastructure strategy, cost optimization, and scaling decisions for live game services
- Ensure live-service reliability, security posture, anti-cheat and fraud controls, and incident management practices
- Elevate DevOps and SRE maturity including build pipelines, deployment automation, observability, and infrastructure-as-code for live games
- Collaborate with data and analytics teams on game telemetry, instrumentation, and player analytics infrastructure
- Hire, mentor, and develop game engineering talent, building technical capabilities across the studio
- This is a rare opportunity to shape the technical direction of a profitable, scaled live-service studio at the exact moment AI is rewriting what is possible in game development. You will have the autonomy to make big bets, the resources to execute, and a team that is ready to move
Benefits
- Extended Health + Dental Insurance: We provide extended health & dental insurance, along with an ample Health and Wellness Spending Account, so that you and your family can prioritize well-being.
- Hybrid Work: We offer various remote positions across Ontario and hybrid positions for team members based in Toronto. Regardless of location, we adapt our work practices to ensure everyone is supported.
- Generous Paid Time Off: Vikings enjoy 15 days of paid vacation and 5 paid sick days annually. We also offer Flex days for hybrid employees who occasionally need to work from home on typical office days.
- Flexible Work Hours: We prioritize collaboration during core working hours, while offering flexibility outside of that to help you manage life’s demands.
- Continuous Learning: We champion self-directed learning and offer support for courses, certifications, and programs that help you grow in your role - and beyond.
- Fair & Evolving Compensation: We’re committed to paying fairly for your role and contributions. Salaries are reviewed twice a year to ensure they stay aligned with your impact and the market.- The ideal candidate is an AI-forward technical leader who combines hands-on applied AI/ML experience with the ability to lead game engineering teams through complex technical challenges
- You thrive in environments where you can architect strategic solutions, move at startup velocity with emerging technologies, and roll up your sleeves to solve hard technical problems
- You are equally comfortable driving organization-wide AI adoption as you are shipping scalable, production-grade game systems
- Track record of building technical infrastructure and platforms from the ground up
- High AI affinity and early adopter mindset; comfortable with rapid technology shifts
- Applied AI/ML expertise with a track record implementing systems in production - must demonstrate hands-on production AI experience beyond exploratory work
- Strong architectural thinking across backend systems, data pipelines, and AI infrastructure
- Proven ability to ship and operate live products at scale with high reliability and performance requirements
- 10-15+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years in senior technical leadership roles, leading technical teams of 20+
- Experience with real-time or interactive application frameworks
- Hands-on experience building and shipping live games on Unity (or directly comparable real-time game engines)
- Background in consumer products with large-scale daily active user bases
- Familiarity with platform economics and user segmentation
Not the right fit? Search for Vice President of Engineering & AI jobs in Toronto, Canada
About Big Viking Games
Entertainment Providers
51-200
Making fans - That's what we're all about!
Since our humble beginnings in 2011, these two words have driven Big Viking Games to become the successful company it is today. We are focused on making our mark by building awesome free-to-play mobile and social games. We're one of the largest independent mobile and social game studios in Canada and a pioneer in mobile HTML5 games!
The company has grown profitably to a team of over 70+ Vikings across two studios in Toronto and London, ON. Prior to 2020, we had 2 studios, but we've now converted to a 100% remote company!
From our beginnings with hits like FishWorld and YoWorld, we strive to become a leader in live operations. Our titles are played by millions of people on iOS, Android, Facebook, and the web.