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Senior Backend Engineer | Multiplayer Game Infrastructure

Hybrid
Montréal, QC
Senior Level

About the role

THE MISSION

Build the backend that powers thousands of concurrent battles in our next-generation competitive FPS. This isn't web development with game features - this is architecting the real-time infrastructure that hardcore players demand: sub-50ms response times, bulletproof persistence, and flawless matchmaking for a title that will compete with CS2 and Valorant.

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

You won't be building CRUD APIs. You'll own the entire competitive integrity of our game:

  • Player Trust: Your persistence layer holds millions in virtual items
  • Match Fairness: Your matchmaking determines every player's experience
  • Live Operations: Your systems handle 10,000 concurrent matches without breaking a sweat

YOUR TECHNICAL BATTLEFIELD

Mission-Critical Systems You'll Own:

  • Stateful Game Services: Design distributed systems managing real-time game state across thousands of concurrent matches
  • High-Performance Matchmaking: Build ELO-based matchmaking supporting 50,000+ concurrent players with <5 second queue times
  • Inventory & Economy Backend: Architect transactional systems managing player inventories worth real money
  • Anti-Cheat Integration: Implement server-authoritative validation and integrate with BattlEye/EAC
  • LiveOps Infrastructure: Build hot-patching systems for zero-downtime updates during peak hours

Your Arsenal:

  • Game-Specific: PlayFab/Pragma/AccelByte or custom equivalents
  • Infrastructure: Kubernetes orchestrating 1000+ pods, AWS GameLift/Agones
  • Performance: Redis for session state, PostgreSQL for persistence, 100K+ ops/second
  • Protocols: WebSockets, gRPC for service mesh, UDP for game traffic
  • Monitoring: Real-time observability handling 1M+ events/minute

REQUIRED EXPERTISE

Non-Negotiable Technical Skills:

  • 7+ years shipping multiplayer game backends (not web apps that happen to be games)
  • Proven scaling experience: You've handled 50K+ CCU in production
  • Battle-tested with: PlayFab, Pragma, AccelByte, or built similar from scratch
  • Deep knowledge: Kubernetes at scale, AWS game services, NodeJS performance optimization
  • Game-specific expertise: Tick rates, client prediction, lag compensation, state synchronization

Evidence We Need:

  • Shipped titles you can point to on Steam/Epic/Console
  • War stories about scaling failures and how you fixed them
  • Specific metrics: CCU handled, latency achieved, uptime maintained
  • Your approach to common problems: inventory duplication, match state corruption, DDOS mitigation

BONUS MULTIPLIERS

  • Direct Unreal Engine 5 replication system experience
  • Contributions to GDC talks or technical game blogs
  • Experience with competitive game ranking systems (ELO, TrueSkill)
  • Background in anti-cheat or game security

THE GAME YOU'LL POWER

We're building the competitive FPS that PC players have been waiting for. Think CS:GO's competitive integrity meets modern gameplay. Your backend will be the difference between "another shooter" and "the next decade's esport."

READY TO SHIP?

Send your resume and include:

  • Your most impressive multiplayer backend scaling achievement

  • The largest CCU you've personally supported in production

  • Your GitHub or technical blog (if available)

About Ironbelly Studios

Entertainment Providers
11-50

Ironbelly Studios is comprised of a talented, passionate and dedicated number of game developers from all corners of the globe. Our focus is on creating high quality entertainment experiences as well as providing outsourcing services at a fraction of the cost seen elsewhere.