ID99040

••••••••••• is an Inc. 5000 company that creates award-winning software for Fortune 500 brands and trailblazing startups across 17+ industries. We rank among the leaders in areas like application development and AI/ML, and our people-first culture has earned us multiple Best Place to Work awards.

Why join us

If you're looking for a place to grow, make an impact, and work with people who care, we'd love to meet you!

About the role

We are looking for a Backend Engineer to build and scale the backend of ••••••••••, a high-traffic gaming companion platform with over 25 million monthly visits, as part of IGN.

The mandatory requirements include 3+ years of backend development with TypeScript on Node.js, strong SQL and caching skills, experience with REST and GraphQL APIs, production-scale applications, daily hands-on use of AI coding tools, and an upper-intermediate English level.

What you will do

  • Build and maintain REST and GraphQL APIs in TypeScript (Fastify, Hono) for user profiles, subscriptions and game data, including authentication, rate limits and typed contracts;

  • Design schemas and write queries for PostgreSQL and MySQL (Prisma, Drizzle), including versioned game data, player builds and migrations on tables in live use;

  • Run ClickHouse analytics pipelines: request logs, materialized views, article and revenue metrics, and the queries behind dashboards;

  • Own the cache layers end to end: Redis-compatible stores, query caching, tag-invalidated cache, HTTP headers and CDN purges;

  • Build and run scheduled jobs and queue consumers (NATS) for game data sync, leaderboards, Meilisearch indexing, sitemaps, Stripe webhooks, payouts and data-deletion requests;

  • Integrate third-party APIs (Stripe, Discord, Blizzard, IGDB, Steam, YouTube), handling retries, backoff and rate limits;

  • Process game images into map tiles, sprite sheets and responsive image sizes;

  • Keep responses lean for Remix and Next.js pages to improve time to first byte, PageSpeed and SEO;

  • Work with AI coding agents every day: direct them, review their output, and maintain the guardrails that make their changes safe to merge (tests, lint rules, build checks, agent instructions);

  • Deploy through Docker, GitHub Actions and Kubernetes;

  • Support high-traffic game launches, including outside regular hours when needed;

Must haves

  • 3+ years of backend development with TypeScript on Node.js;

  • Strong command of TypeScript’s type system (generics, inference, discriminated unions, narrowing);

  • Schema validation experience with Zod or similar;

  • Strong SQL skills in PostgreSQL and/or MySQL: schema design, indexing, query plans, migrations on live data, transactions and locking;

  • Experience running an analytical database at production volume (ClickHouse preferred; BigQuery, Druid or similar also count);

  • Experience designing caching: Redis or a compatible store, invalidation strategies, HTTP cache headers, CDN behavior;

  • Experience designing and consuming REST and GraphQL APIs, including authentication and rate limiting;

  • Experience with background jobs and message queues, including handling jobs that run twice or don’t run at all;

  • Experience with high-volume, user-facing production applications;

  • Experience taking a product from idea to production;

  • Proficiency with agentic AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor or similar): daily, hands-on use in a real codebase, and good judgment about when their output needs checking;

  • Comfortable reading and changing React code when a feature reaches the frontend;

  • Able to work well in a startup-style, fast-paced environment with changing priorities;

  • Flexible about working hours: some game launches happen in the evening or on weekends and need coverage outside the standard 9-to-5;

  • Passion for gaming;

  • Upper-intermediate English level;

Nice to haves

  • Experience with Bun;

  • Experience with any of the current stack: Remix, Next.js, Fastify, Hono, Prisma, Drizzle, Apollo GraphQL, Meilisearch, NATS, Ory, Stripe, Nx;

  • shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS;

  • Strict lint setups (typescript-eslint strictTypeChecked, custom lint rules, architecture boundaries);

  • Docker, Kubernetes, GitOps (ArgoCD), GitHub Actions, External Secrets;

  • Payments and subscriptions (Stripe checkout, webhooks, promotion codes);

  • Writing agent instructions, skills or custom tooling for AI coding agents;

  • Experience building game tools, such as databases, interactive maps, calculators or planners;

Perks and benefits

  • Professional growth: Accelerate your professional journey with mentorship, TechTalks, and personalized growth roadmaps;

  • Competitive compensation: We match your skills and contributions with USD-based compensation and budgets for education, fitness, and team activities;

  • A selection of exciting projects: Work with Fortune 500 enterprises and leading product brands using modern solutions;

  • Flextime: Flexible schedule with remote and office options for work-life balance;

Meet Our Recruitment Process

Asynchronous stage – An automated, self-paced track that helps us move faster and give you quicker feedback:

  • Short online form to confirm basic requirements

  • 30–60 minute skills assessment

  • 5-minute introduction video

Synchronous stage – Live interviews

  • Technical interview with our engineering team (scheduled at your convenience)

  • Final interview with your future teammates

If it’s a match—you’ll get an offer!