Senior Backend Engineer - [EAG260818]

About Us

Hatch Studio has been building and running software since 2011. Our engineers have worked on products used by millions of people, alongside teams at companies like EA, Epic Games and Krafton. We’ve lasted 15 years by delivering great work and treating people well.

We believe AI is changing how great software gets built, and we want our people at the front of that change. At Hatch, you’ll be encouraged to explore AI tools in your daily work, share what you learn, and help shape how we build. We want engineers who are curious, care about quality, and take ownership of what they ship.

We’re based in Vancouver, with team members across Canada.

About The Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Backend Engineer with proven experience designing and implementing robust, scalable backend systems. This role involves significant contributions to the backend development of an innovative game, ensuring performance, scalability, and reliability.

You will be working in an engineering-oriented fast-paced environment, with minimal management and detailed task definition. You need to be a self-starter and excel at making your own decisions and organizing your work according to the declared goals.

The backend for this project is built in Go. Go experience is a plus, not a requirement: strong backend engineers who haven’t used it yet will pick it up on the job.

This is a remote position with working hours that must align with Pacific Time (PT) business hours.

You will

• End-to-End Backend Ownership: Design, build, deploy, and maintain robust backend services across the stack—including API design, database modelling, schema migrations, and event flows.
• Scale & Reliability: Architect high-concurrency backend systems in Go capable of handling significant request volumes and data throughput, bringing the design and scaling experience you’ve built in other languages if Go is new to you. Participate in on-call rotations for backend systems you build.
• Client-Server Architecture: Define and maintain robust client-server contracts, managing API versioning, offline syncing state, idempotency, retries, and auth lifecycles.
• Cloud & Microservices: Build, deploy, and optimize scalable microservices on cloud platforms (AWS).
• Technical Communication: Write clear Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), system design specs, RFCs, and deliver thorough, actionable code reviews.

You have

• 6+ years of professional experience building production software.
• Production Backend Experience: 3+ years of production backend experience in Go, Java, Kotlin, Python, Rust, Node/TypeScript, Scala, C++ or a similar language, used as your primary backend language (not just as a secondary or “familiar with”). We’re prioritizing engineers whose primary backend background is in languages like these; this role is not the right fit for backgrounds centred mainly on C#/.NET.
• Proven Scale: Track record of building and operating backend services at scale, backed by real production metrics (RPS, data volume, concurrency).
• Relational Database Expertise: Advanced proficiency in PostgreSQL beyond basic ORMs (complex queries, indexing, data modelling, schema migrations).
• Client-Server Integration: Hands-on experience designing robust client-server protocols (push/pull sync mechanisms, idempotency keys, token management).
• Production Operations: Hands-on experience being on-call for backend systems you personally built and deployed.
• Modern Tooling: Daily use of AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) with a highly critical lens—you carefully review, refactor, and reject substandard generated code rather than blindly merging it.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Strong communication and teamwork abilities.
• Must be a resident of Canada and be eligible to work in Canada
• Ability to work during Pacific Time Zone regular business hours
• Flexible to attend remote meetings during the evening, when required.

Nice-to-Haves

• Go (Golang): Production experience with Go. If you don’t have it yet, you’ll pick it up on the job.
• Communication Protocols & Messaging: gRPC, Protocol Buffers (Protobuf), and messaging/event services such as AWS Kinesis, SNS/SQS, Kafka, or NATS.
• Cloud Platform Experience: Hands-on experience with GCP infrastructure and microservice deployments.
• Observability & Infra: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
• Database Tuning: Postgres performance optimization, query execution plan analysis, and zero-downtime database migrations.
• Domain & Background: Prior experience in agency, studio, or consultancy environments managing complex codebases, or a track record of open-source contributions. Interest in the gaming industry is a plus.
• Must be a resident of Canada and be eligible to work in Canada.

How to apply:

• To apply, please send your PDF resume and Github profile.
• Note: A background check will be required for employment in this role.

Job Types:

Permanent, Full-time

Schedule: Monday to Friday

Pay:

$100K to $150K per year

We offer:

• Health Spending Account
• Disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Work from home

Accommodation

Hatch Studio is committed to an inclusive and accessible hiring process. If you need an accommodation at any stage of recruitment, tell us when you apply or at any point after, and we’ll work with you to meet your needs.