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Senior Backend Game Developer
3 years ago
Company Overview:
A leader in creating deep and engaging experiences on PC and mobile, Jagex was founded in 2001 and is today one of the UK’s biggest and most respected video game developers and publishers.
Famed for its flagship MMOs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, Jagex has welcomed more than 260million player accounts to its world and created a $1bn lifetime franchise revenue. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds.
Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly-active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped.
Jagex is expanding and extending its portfolio with fresh franchise titles, new IP and, in 2018 launched Jagex Partners, delivering third-party publishing and operational services exclusively for the living games of the future.
Jagex employs more than 400 people at its Cambridge headquarters and is on the hunt for talented people to work across the business to help the company to achieve yet another year of record growth and player satisfaction.
Job Purpose
You love to be the expert and idea generator of your domain. You enjoy diving in and investigating code libraries, scripting languages, and game engine technologies. As the server and client technologies leader powering RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, your game development experience combined with your innately curious nature will help to evolve the way these games are developed and enjoyed. You will want to maintain what is working well with this 18-year old franchise while thinking ahead to enhance and improve its backend services.
If you’re a senior level MMO backend server or game engine developer with a deep understanding of programming principles – and happy to learn Java and its intricacies – we would love to hear from you. If you’re already an expert in Java, you’ll be ahead of the game
Key Duties:
- Developing a deep and nuanced understanding of the existing game server/engine and its unique interplay with other departments.
- Programming using Java and C++ (11/14), defining new tasks as well as completing scheduled assignments.
- Leading, defining and evolving current client and server architecture powering RuneScape and Oldschool RuneScape.
- Researching, innovating and developing new game engine technology.
- Applying the best of your experience working with custom game engines and/or modifying industry standard game engines (Unity, Unreal, CryEngine etc.) for MMOs to proactively make our game technology faster, leaner and easier to maintain.
- Leading collaborative technical discussions with team members to identify the best solutions to defined challenges.
- Contributing to overall project strategy by putting forward ideas and providing honest and helpful perspectives on the ideas of others.
- Assisting in the recruitment of other great team members.
Essential Requirements:
- Senior level game development experience working on high-load MMO game world servers.
- Fluent in communicating and innovating solutions to complex problems in a legacy technology stack you enjoy optimizing for performance.
- Knowledgeable and appreciative of old-school and modern development practices, with experience evaluating and recommending custom versus off-the-shelf solutions.
- Degree-level fluency in programming principles, such that you are not at all concerned about learning and adapting to potentially new programming and scripting languages.
- Able to develop backend systems for multiple platforms, including PC, Mac OS, Linux, iOS and Android.
- Familiarity with build and deployment systems such as Gradle, Maven and Ansible
- An understanding and appreciation of test-driven development
Personal Characteristics:
- Happy to become one of the game world server experts for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.
- You will want to explore and understand how existing technologies may serve the game and be passionate about creating new features and enhancing the current backend systems.
- Big picture thinker – the existing technologies you will be working with are deeply tied into the workflow of other departments on the game. You will want to understand and collaborate with other teams as well as your own to balance needs.
- Strong influencing skills – you will bring a wealth of knowledge and new perspectives to this role and so you will need to be able to help others understand the benefits and possible challenges that come with implementing the solutions you present.
- Mentoring and supporting other team members to achieve their best work.
- Building strong working relationships with team members across disciplines and the company.
Company Benefits:
- Flexible Working
- Bonus Scheme
- Private Health Care
- Gym Membership
- Generous Pension Contributions
- Life Insurance
- Free Cycle Repair
- Income Protection
- Dental Plan
- Free Fruit and Drinks
- Subsidised Canteen
Feel like you fit this role, but don’t meet all the requirements? We strive for fresh perspectives, so as long as you can demonstrate how your attitude and other abilities might make up for any gaps we would welcome your application!
Jagex are an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.
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