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Principal Backend Engineer - MPG - Fully remote from the UK or the EU

Climax Studios (Keywords)

United Kingdom·Full-time

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The role, as advertised by Climax Studios (Keywords)

  • Experience in game development and having shipped multiple live games (or similar products) with a high concurrent user count 
  • Proven experience architecting distributed applications with a high concurrent user base (hundreds of thousands), ideally proven with a released title or robust load tests 
  • Production experience with at least one of Java, Golang, C#, C++, Kotlin; experience with Python, Node.js and React is desirable
  • Solid database experience, with the ability to work effectively with both SQL and NoSQL databases 
  • Proven experience with cloud platforms: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure; having an AWS Certification (Professional level) would be advantageous 
  • Proven experience building backend infrastructure using infrastructure as code tools, e.g. Terraform 
  • Proven experience using Kubernetes and Docker to build products at scale 
  • Ability to autonomously architect and design online services based on a specification 
  • Ability to navigate changes calmly and manage multiple pieces of potentially confidential information 
  • Excellent time management and ability to work autonomously
  • Clear and effective communicator with the ability to discuss technical strategy with non-technical stakeholders and adapt to client needs 
  • Experience building CI/CD pipelines from scratch or improving existing client solutions 
  • Awareness of security/cheating implications of technology choices
  • Experience using Gen AI for code generation
  • Deep expertise in at least one relevant area of backend technology, e.g. DevOps, Microservices, Cloud Architecture 
  • Understanding of how a backend service integrates with the game - experience with Unreal or Unity would be useful but not required
  • An understanding of how to use LLMs to process and query structured and unstructured data
  • Individual contribution: architect systems, write code, deployments, etc.
  • Act as the engineering contact point between MPG and the client, working alongside the Project Manager and Engineering Leadership
  • Translate client requirements into tasks for yourself and team members
  • Make the right trade-offs to design systems based on performance, time, and budget 
  • Mentor and delegate pieces of work to other team members to help develop them as engineers 
  • Create estimated cost spreadsheets for online services based on projected concurrent users 
  • Cultivate engineering best practices across teams: modular design, code quality, testing  
  • Work with the Lead and Production to communicate risks, benefits, and future roadmaps
  • Active mentorship of the engineering team towards professional accreditation (e.g., AWS Certification) and technical leadership.

    • This role at a glance

    This is one of 9 programming and engineering roles open in Scotland today, out of 546 live games jobs across the UK, and Climax Studios (Keywords) is hiring for 4 other roles alongside it. Going by the title it’s a lead / principal role, combining hands-on work with setting direction or managing others. Climax Studios (Keywords) doesn’t publish the salary here; across the 3 programming and engineering roles on the board that do, the median is £40k.

    Discipline
    Engineering
    Level (from the title)
    Lead / principal
    On gamesJobs since
    24 Jun 2026
    Other Engineering roles in Scotland
    8

    About Climax Studios (Keywords)

    Climax Studios is a developer based in Portsmouth, founded in 1988, and part of Keywords Studios since 2021. Over its history it has made original games and worked on major franchises, with credits including Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and the Assassin's Creed Chronicles series.

    Climax Studios (Keywords) company profile and all 5 open roles →

    Guide Game programming careers: specialisms, tests and portfolios →

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