Online Programmer

About Steel City Interactive

SCI was born out of passion for video games and boxing, with the ambition to create an authentic and exciting boxing game that does justice to the sport we love. What started as a fun prototype has grown into ‘Undisputed’, the first major boxing video game in over a decade.  

SCI is a welcoming place for expression and open communication, where everyone has a voice. We’re a diverse bunch, consisting of people with decades of games industry experience, graduates and talented individuals who come from other industries. We all bring knowledge and learn from each other.

Together we are driven by ambition to bring the world of boxing into a video game like never before.  

 The Role

We are looking for an experienced Online Programmer to help shape the future of our boxing game, Undisputed. As we continue development in UE5, you’ll be responsible for integrating and maintaining online feature flows such as authentication, progression, matchmaking, and social systems, leveraging our backend platform. You will contribute to these interconnected and service-driven systems across both the client and service layers, requiring careful handling of state and data flow to ensure consistency between them.

You are an experienced engineer with a strong focus on integrating and operating player-facing online features, having worked on live or multiplayer titles within Unreal Engine using C++. You are comfortable working within established architectures, contributing by building, refining, and optimising online systems that connect the game client to platform and service layers.

You will be working in collaboration with a highly talented, diverse team to create reliable, scalable online experiences, with a hands-on focus on correctness, performance, and robustness under real-world conditions.

This role can be based onsite at one of our 2 offices in Sheffield or Leamington Spa, hybrid or fully remote.

Responsibilities

· Design, build and maintain online feature flows including authentication, entitlements, progression, matchmaking, parties, and other service-driven systems.

· Integrate the game client with Pragma backend services, ensuring reliable and predictable data flow between them.

· Contribute to the implementation of backend service logic to support game features, including defining behaviour and data models.

· Implement and maintain data-driven systems aligned with backend service contracts and configuration.

· Define and maintain clear interfaces between client systems and backend services.

· Ensure consistent state across client and service boundaries, including handling reconnects, latency, and partial failures.

· Identify, debug, and resolve issues across client-service interactions, including asynchronous and data consistency issues.

· Optimise systems for network efficiency, responsiveness, and minimal client performance impact.

· Take ownership of system quality, ensuring a stable and predictable online player experience.

· Collaborate with gameplay, UI, backend, QA, and production to deliver cohesive features and clear technical outcomes.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

· Strong experience developing in Unreal Engine using C++, with a focus on online or multiplayer systems.

· Experience integrating online services or backend platforms within a game client.

· Experience developing or contributing to backend services for online or service-based systems.

· Good understanding of common online systems such as authentication, matchmaking, progression, entitlements, and social features.

· Strong understanding of service-based architectures, asynchronous flows, and state management across client and backend systems.

· Experience working with data-driven systems, including schemas, configuration, and service-defined data.

· Ability to debug and resolve issues in complex client-service interactions.

· Experience identifying and addressing performance issues related to network usage and latency.

· Ability to reason about system behaviour across multiple interacting systems and edge cases.

· Good communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across disciplines and explain technical considerations clearly.

· Familiarity with debugging tools and techniques for diagnosing issues in distributed or asynchronous systems.

· Experience with the Pragma platform or similar backend solutions would be beneficial.

· Experience developing backend services using Kotlin or other JVM-based languages would be a bonus.

· Console development experience and awareness of platform certification requirements is beneficial.

· Knowledge of relational databases, particularly (MySQL), is also a plus.

What we offer

Healthy work-life balance:

• 23 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), that increases 1 day per year of service, up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Christmas shut down

• Holiday exchange programme

• Flexible working hours & pattern (Certain Hybrid models available)

Support for family life:

• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity pay (subject to eligibility requirements)

• Private Healthcare which includes Optical & Dental

Great office environment:

• Friendly studios based in Sheffield and Leamington, with free snacks, fruit and drinks!

• Free parking - At our Sheffield site

Health & wellbeing support:

• Company sick pay

• 2 days Wellbeing Days leave per year

• Access to 24/7 doctors

• Employee Assistance Programme

Learning support:

• Learning days

Additional financial support:

• Technology scheme (salary sacrifice up to £750)

• Relocation benefits (subject to eligibility requirements)

• Electric Car Vehicle Scheme (subject to eligibility requirements)

• Discretionary Bonus

Connection and perks:

• Wrap parties & company paid outings

• Individual entertainment budget to cover team events

Steel City Interactive is an equal opportunity employer. We’re committed to building a diverse team and welcome all applications, considering them without regard to race, religion, belief, age, gender, gender expression, gender identity, gender reassignment, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, sex or sexual orientation.

If you’re excited about this role and believe you would add value to our team, but don’t meet every single requirement, we would still like to hear from you – please let us know about the value you would bring in your application.

NOTICE TO APPLICANTS

Please be aware that all applications for roles submitted through our website will be managed by our external recruitment partner, Amiqus. While they will handle the processing and management of your application, your data will remain securely stored within our Applicant Tracking System (ATS). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the confidentiality of your personal information. By submitting your CV through our website, you give your permission for your application to be managed by Amiqus and to be contacted by them on SCI’s behalf.