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.

No Visa sponsorship or transfer available for this role

Flexible working available, onsite / hybrid (Sheffield or Leamington Spa), remote (UK only).

The Role

We are looking for an experienced, mid level, 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.

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.