Senior Backend Engineer

Position Overview

• Location Type: Remote
• Job Type: Full-Time
• Salary: $100K - $160K

Pocket Worlds is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join our elite team and contribute to the development of our social virtual worlds. We're a fast-paced, innovative startup backed by Y Combinator, tackling a mission at a world-changing scale. This role offers significant ownership and control over your career, allowing you to directly impact the future of our virtual universe.

Requirements

• Experience: At least 6 years of experience in backend development and infrastructure management, with at least 2 years in a senior+ role.
• Programming: Experience programming in Python.
• Infrastructure Management: Extensive experience managing infrastructure at scale, with proven success in delivering stability and performance.
• Team Leadership: Experience leading small teams and taking significant ownership and responsibility.
• Kubernetes: Experience with and comfort working in Kubernetes, preferably in AWS.
• Startup Environment: Experience with and comfort in a high-velocity startup environment.
• Mission-Critical Applications: Experience supporting mission-critical applications at scale.
• Passion: Genuine enthusiasm for the work and a desire to work with like-minded individuals.

Bonuses (Preferred Skills)

• Experience programming in GO, C#, or Lua.
• Experience with the Unity Gaming Engine.
• Experience orchestrating stateful applications such as game servers.
• Experience with side projects, games, or open-source contributions.
• A passion for experimentation and learning new technologies.
• High energy and a drive to lead and push the team to success.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the design, development, and maintenance of our backend systems.
• Implement and manage infrastructure using Kubernetes, AWS, and Terraform.
• Collaborate with a small, elite team to build and scale our virtual world platform.
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to the overall quality of our codebase.
• Troubleshoot and resolve production issues in a timely manner.
• Support mission-critical applications at scale.
• Contribute to the evolution of our backend technical stack.

Company Information

• About Pocket Worlds: Our mission is to connect the world through shared experiences, and our work shapes the future of social virtual worlds.
• Company Culture: Featured as one of the most innovative companies in the world by Fast Company. Silicon Valley startup culture with serial startup founders out of Y Combinator.
• Current Technical Stack:
  • Async typed Python, Go
  • Kubernetes (kOps)
  • AWS
  • Terraform, Helm
  • MongoDB, ElasticSearch, Redis, OpenSearch, Grafana, Kibana, Prometheus
  • REST, FlatBuffers, WebSocket Secure (WSS)
  • Micro Services, event-based architecture
• Planned Stack Upgrades:
  • Global growth infrastructure expansion
  • Cloud native tools and practices for improved business continuity and security
  • ML-driven recommendations and search engines
  • Game server hosting for UGC (User Generated Content)
  • AI-powered content generation

Application Instructions

• [Instructions for applying would be included here if available]