Backend Engineer

At YallaPlay, We are a rapidly growing startup mobile gaming studio on a mission to bring people together through play, we create exciting mobile games that bring joy to millions of players worldwide. Founded in Austin, Texas, we’ve since expanded to Brazil and the UAE, growing our diverse and talented team of creators. We pride ourselves on a fun and collaborative work environment, with a remote-friendly culture and a dedication to producing high-quality, engaging games. Our current titles, including “Spades Masters” (iOS/Android), have been enjoyed by millions of players globally. 

Our passion lies in reinventing card games infusing them with fresh mechanics, beautiful design, and social features that spark connection and excitement. As we continue to scale, we’re looking for creative, driven individuals who are excited to help shape the future of multiplayer mobile gaming in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Join us and be part of building something big from the ground up.

We are looking for a passionate and hands-on Backend Engineer to join our talented team and help shape the next generation of engaging mobile card games.

As a Backend Engineer, you will play a key role in designing, developing, and maintaining robust backend systems for our mobile game clients. You should be proficient in back-end coding languages, development frameworks, and third-party libraries.

In this role, you will be involved in all phases of the software development lifecycle, including estimation, technical design, implementation, documentation, testing, deployment, and ongoing support. Working collaboratively in a team environment, you will partner with solution architects and developers to transform wireframes and creative designs into functional requirements and high-quality technical solutions.

This position can be remote or based at our state-of-the-art offices in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

• Lead the technical planning & requirements gathering phases including estimate, development, test, manage projects, architect, and deliver.
• Serve as a strong technical contributor. Provide technical support or leadership in the development and continual improvement of service.
• Work closely with the Design team to take ideas for creating the ecosystem and turn them into features and services
• Write code for storing and retrieving large amounts of data, making this data easily surfaced to both players and developers
• Build data entry tools for designers to iterate on parts of the system such as the store
• Use profiling and debugging tools to iterate on services to ensure availability and efficiency
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with team members.
• Ensure that the technical Agile software development process is followed, familiar with industry best practices for software development.
• Demonstrate the ability to adapt and work with team members of various experience levels.
• Document programming tasks and procedures.
• Perform software testing.

What you need to have:

• B.S/M.S. in Computer Science or equivalent (Strong Computer Science fundamentals)
• Passionate coders with 8+ years of application development experience.
• Proficiency in C# 
• Experience with microservices
• Experience with distributed systems and clusters
• Experience building scalable backend systems with cloud infrastructures like Azure.
• Experience with orchestrators such as Kubernetes or HashiCorp Nomad
• Knowledge of serverless system design patterns
• Knowledge of virtual actor programming models such as Orleans or Akka
• Strong understanding of database design and query optimizations using both relational Databases, such as PostgreSql and Non-Relational Databases like MongoDB or Cassandra
• Helped deploy a live service and/or was responsible for helping to maintain one
• Full life cycle development experience using Agile/Scrum methodologies is required.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Self-starter who can work independently.
• Exceptional problem solving and ability to work independently
• Flexible and adaptable attitude, disciplined to manage multiple responsibilities and adjust to varied environments.
• Proficient in authoring, editing, and presenting technical documents.
  

What You Get:

• Creative Freedom – We trust you to take the lead, bring your ideas to life, and help shape our games and our company.
• Real Impact – You’ll work on meaningful projects that reach a global audience.
• Collaborative Culture – Small team, big ambition. We keep things fun, respectful, and feedback-driven.

Benefits & Perks:

• Competitive salary
• Remote-first and flexible schedule- Digital nomad friendly
• Generous paid time off
• Paid birthdays off
• UAE visa sponsorship (if applicable)
• Growth opportunities and access to learning resources
• A team that actually loves games—and each other

Ready to join the team? We’d love to hear from you!

• Apply
• Share OpenSource GitHub projects (if available)

We review every application carefully and will be in touch if there’s a fit. Good luck!