Senior Java Backend & DevOps Engineer (Gaming, High-Scale Systems)
Join a team where your code doesn’t just ship features - it keeps entire game worlds alive for tens of thousands to millions of players. At Goodgame Studios you’ll work on always-on distributed systems for modern games, where latency, throughput, and uptime are measured in real player impact. This isn’t CRUD; it’s high-scale, mission-critical backend engineering.
The Role: We’re looking for a Senior Engineer who is equally strong in backend Java and cloud operations on AWS. You will design, implement, deploy, tune, and operate critical backend systems that must withstand unpredictable load patterns and deliver consistent low-latency performance.
Your Mission:
Full lifecycle ownership: architecture → coding → infra → deployment → production → scaling.
Design and operate high-throughput, low-latency Java services (JDK 17+).
Build resilient distributed components and optimize memory, concurrency, and GC for production workloads.
Architect databases and caching layers (MySQL, Redis) for millions of player rows.
Maintain CI/CD pipelines, AWS infrastructure, and implement robust observability and monitoring.
Participate in advanced on-call rotations and troubleshoot live production issues.
What You Bring:
6+ years backend experience with expert-level Java.
Deep understanding of AWS, distributed systems, concurrency, memory tuning, and SQL optimization.
Comfort with production ownership and operational decision-making.
Passion for high-scale systems where performance and reliability matter.
Nice to have:
Gaming backend experience (matchmaking, inventories, leaderboards).
Event-driven architectures (Kafka, Kinesis, SQS/SNS).
Real-time telemetry or anti-cheat systems.
Why You’ll Love It:
Build systems players interact with every minute
You can work remotely as long as you are within our CET time zone
Engineering-first culture with high autonomy and impact.
Tackle genuinely interesting technical problems with a modern, challenging stack: Java, MySQL, Redis, AWS, distributed systems.
In this role, you'll join Goodgame Studios. Collaborate closely with our 30+ dedicated professionals, employ your initiative and strong communication skills to seamlessly integrate your ideas into our MMO pioneer games with more than 200 million registered players worldwide and a history of more than 1bn € in revenues. If you're ready to take on this challenge and thrive in a high-target environment, we want you on our team!
Goodgame Studios is known for successful strategy titles and data-driven game development. We self-publish our games in-house and have all relevant professions under one roof. Plus, we are part of Stillfront Group, one of Europe’s leading game publishers with a strong focus on long-term IP growth.
- Locations
- Hamburg (Borselstraße 20), Remote
- Remote status
- Fully Remote
- Studios
- Goodgame Studios
- Employment types
- Permanent
- Employment contracts
- Full time
Hamburg (Borselstraße 20)
About Goodgame Studios
Goodgame Studios is a leading free-to-play, online games development company active on web and mobile platforms. We self-publish our games in-house and have all relevant professions under one roof: Game Development, Quality Assurance, Community Management and Customer Support to Business Development, Marketing, Analytics and Central IT services. These departments work hand in hand to provide quality gaming experiences to over 200 million registered users worldwide.
Goodgame Studios is part of Stillfront. Stillfront is a global gaming company with 1200+ employees. We develop a wide range of digital games that attract over 40 million players each month. From well-established franchises like Supremacy, Big Farm, and BitLife to niche games, we span many different genres, including strategy, simulation, RPG and action, and casual and mash-up games.
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