Website Pixel Toys
Job Overview
- Company Name: Pixel Toys
- Job Title: Senior Server Programmer
- Location: Leamington Spa (Hybrid)
- Department: Programming / Engineering
- Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent
- Experience Level: Senior / Veteran (Multiple years in Server App Development)
- Salary: Competitive (Reviewed Annually)
- Core Tech Stack: C#, .NET, AWS (DynamoDB, Redis, RDS)
- Monitoring & CI/CD: Datadog, Kibana, Jenkins, CodeBuild
- Industry: Game Development (Mobile & VR)
Pixel Toys – Leamington Spa, Warwickshire (Hybrid)
Pixel Toys is a powerhouse of innovation located in the historic gaming hub of Leamington Spa. For over a decade, we have been at the forefront of mobile and VR development, crafting award-winning titles like Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War.
Pixel Toys currently embarking on our most ambitious project yet—a title that breaks all our previous molds—and we are looking for a visionary Senior Server Programmer to join our Engineering team. In this role, you will be the technical guardian of our next-gen backends, building the high-performance infrastructure that powers a global AAA mobile title.
The Vision: Why This Role Matters
In the world of high-end mobile gaming, the server isn’t just a database—it’s the heartbeat of the player experience. As a Senior Server Programmer at Pixel Toys, you step into a position of significant influence. You won’t just follow a technical specification; you will contribute your own architectural vision to create sophisticated, efficient server systems capable of handling millions of concurrent requests from a global player base.
Pixel Toys currently working on a project unlike anything in our portfolio. This is a “clean slate” opportunity to set studio-wide standards, define robust backend processes, and drive our technology forward. Your work will be the invisible backbone that allows our creative front-end features to shine, ensuring that player progress, multiplayer interactions, and live services function with zero friction.
Detailed Responsibilities: Your Impact
Your mission is to ensure that our backend infrastructure is as stable as it is performant, bridging the gap between game design and technical reality.
1. Architectural Leadership & Design
You will take full ownership of the planning and development for entire features and complex systems. This involves creating thorough technical designs that invite peer validation, ensuring that quality and scalability are “baked in” from day one. You are expected to look at the “big picture,” ensuring that the server architecture can support the game’s longevity.
2. Performance & Security Optimization
In a live-service environment, bottlenecks are the enemy. You will dive deep into profiling and optimizing critical code, identifying performance lags and security risks before they ever impact the user. Your mastery of C# and .NET will be utilized to write clean, high-throughput code that minimizes latency and maximizes server efficiency.
3. Mentorship & Studio Standards
As a Senior member of the team, you serve as a vital mentor to junior and mid-level programmers. You will advocate for coding best practices, perform rigorous code reviews, and foster a culture of continuous learning. Your years of experience will help the team accurately estimate tasks and proactively mitigate technical debt.
4. Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
You will work in lockstep with Game Designers, Artists, and Client-side Developers. Your role is to distill complex server architecture into clear, actionable insights for stakeholders across all disciplines, ensuring that technical constraints are understood and creative goals are met.
Candidate Profile: Who You Are
Pixel Toys is looking for an engineering veteran who approaches every challenge with a proactive, “can-do” attitude and a deep passion for the art of game making.
Technical Requirements
C# / .NET Mastery: You possess a deep, architectural understanding of coding patterns and methodologies that allow for scale and longevity.
Cloud Infrastructure (AWS): Extensive hands-on experience with the AWS ecosystem, specifically DynamoDB, Redis, and AWS RDS.
Observability & Monitoring: Familiarity with tools like Datadog, Kibana, or PagerDuty to maintain high uptime and rapid incident response.
DevOps Integration: A firm grasp of CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins, Codebuild, or Spinnaker.
Agile Mindset: You excel in an Agile environment, using your experience to navigate sprints and manage technical risks effectively.
Soft Skills and Mindset
Creative Problem Solver: You don’t just fix bugs; you identify the root cause and engineer systemic solutions.
Exceptional Communicator: You can explain “server-side magic” to non-technical team members with ease and clarity.
Technical Quality Advocate: Your commitment to clean code and technical excellence is unwavering. You take pride in troubleshooting intricate compatibility and concurrency issues with precision.
The Pixel Toys Culture: What We Offer
At Pixel Toys, we are proud of the progressive, inclusive, and collaborative environment we’ve built. We believe that professional excellence is fueled by a healthy work-life balance and a supportive community.
Comprehensive Benefits Package
Financial Growth: Competitive salary with annual reviews and a discretionary bonus scheme based on performance.
Health & Wellbeing: Private Medical Insurance (including optical and dental coverage), plus quarterly Wellness days featuring on-site massages and health initiatives.
Generous Time Off: 25 days of annual leave (plus bank holidays), with up to 3 additional “Duvet Days” awarded for long service.
Future Planning: A robust company pension scheme and Death in Service benefits for peace of mind.
Work-Life Balance: Flexi-time working hours and a hybrid model that respects your time and commitments.
Social Life: Regular studio-wide socials, including “epic” summer and Christmas parties that celebrate our collective success.
Professional Development: Dedicated budgets and time for staff training, ensuring you stay at the cutting edge of C# .NET and server security.
Why Leamington Spa?
Leamington Spa, often referred to as “Silicon Spa,” is one of the UK’s premier hubs for game development. By joining Pixel Toys, you become part of a tight-knit community of thousands of developers in a beautiful, historic town. Leamington offers a high quality of life with excellent local amenities, independent shops, and award-winning parks—all while being a short distance from major cities like Birmingham and London.
Our hybrid working model ensures you can enjoy the best of both worlds: the high-energy, collaborative atmosphere of our heart-of-the-city studio, and the focused flexibility of working from home.
Next Steps
If you are a self-motivated team player who doesn’t just deliver code, but excellence, we want to hear from you. Help us elevate the standard of our entire engineering department and build the backbone of our next global success
To apply for this job please visit pixeltoysltd.bamboohr.com.