Lead Programmer

Architect core systems, lead the engineering team, own technical strategy, and ensure scalable, performant code across our games and interactive products. High-impact leadership role in Edmonton (hybrid) or remote across Canada.

Role Overview

As Lead Programmer at Company, you will set the technical direction, design robust architecture, mentor engineers, and drive delivery of high-quality, performant features from prototype to live operations. You’ll work closely with producers, designers, artists, animators, and leadership to balance innovation, stability, and velocity while maintaining best practices across the codebase.

Key Responsibilities

  • Define and evolve technical architecture, coding standards, and performance targets
  • Lead and mentor a team of programmers (5–15+ engineers)
  • Own major systems: networking, rendering, physics, AI, save/load, live ops backend integration
  • Guide prototyping, optimization, debugging, and profiling efforts
  • Collaborate with production on scoping, risk management, and milestone delivery
  • Review code, conduct technical design reviews, and enforce quality gates
  • Drive technical roadmap, tool development, and pipeline improvements

Must-Have Skills & Experience

  • 8–12+ years programming experience with at least 2 shipped titles in a lead/senior role
  • Strong C# (Unity) and/or C++ (Unreal) expertise with clean, scalable code
  • Proven leadership: managed engineering teams, owned architecture on shipped projects
  • Deep knowledge of real-time systems: rendering, physics, networking, multithreading
  • Experience with performance optimization across platforms (mobile, PC, console)
  • Strong problem-solving, debugging, and profiling skills (RenderDoc, Visual Studio Profiler)
  • Excellent communication & cross-discipline collaboration (with designers, artists, producers)

Nice-to-Have / Bonus Points

  • Experience leading live-service or multiplayer games (server architecture, matchmaking)
  • Knowledge of modern graphics APIs (Vulkan, Metal, DirectX 12) and ray tracing
  • Background in procedural generation, AI systems, or simulation-heavy gameplay
  • Experience with cloud/back-end integration (PlayFab, AWS, Firebase, custom servers)
  • Tool development (editor extensions, build pipelines, automation scripts)
  • Previous work in AR/VR, cross-platform, or emerging interactive formats
  • Familiarity with CI/CD, version control at scale (Perforce, Git LFS), and release processes
  • Interest in AI-assisted coding or next-gen tech (neural rendering, ML in gameplay)
  • Mentoring experience or building engineering culture

Compensation & Benefits for this Role

Senior technical leadership package with architecture ownership in Edmonton/remote Canada.

$145,000 – $195,000 CAD / year + bonus

(Base salary depending on experience + performance bonus + equity potential)

Role-Specific Perks

  • High-end engineering workstation (RTX 4090 / Threadripper + multiple 5K displays)
  • Full development suite (Unity/Unreal, Rider/Visual Studio, profiling tools) covered
  • Tech & leadership budget (~$4,500–$7,000 CAD/year: GDC, Unreal Fest, AWS re:Invent, team offsites)
  • Direct influence on technical strategy & roadmap at executive level

Standard Benefits

  • Extended health, dental, vision + premium mental health coverage
  • RRSP matching up to 6–8%
  • Hybrid/remote flexibility (Edmonton HQ + Canada-wide remote)
  • 4+ weeks vacation + flexible personal/sabbatical options
  • Executive coaching & technical leadership development

Ready to Lead Our Technical Future?

If you thrive on building scalable systems, mentoring engineers, and delivering performant, beautiful experiences — we want you to lead our programming direction.

Apply for Lead Programmer

Include your technical resume, architecture examples, shipped titles, and leadership stories — we review every submission personally.