Senior Back End Engineer Contractor

Gala

Gala is creating entertainment that empowers on the blockchain. Across our family of brands, including Games, Music, Film, Blockchain and VOX, we're empowering creators and fans to build the future of entertainment.

Powered by talent from around the globe, we believe in making bold moves to create products that have never been seen in the marketplace. Gala was founded by Eric Schiermeyer (gaming legend and co-founder of Zynga) and ever since Gala has grown to be a leader in Web3 entertainment.

Under the Gala brand, we have a growing roster of reputable partners across Gaming and Entertainment, including DreamWorks, AMC, and NBCU. Plus, legendary game developers Peter Molyneux and Will Wright and music greats like Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Kings of Leon, and BT.

Our values are based on openness and ownership and the ability to deliver games, experiences, and opportunities to people worldwide. We are breaking down barriers to bring our communities joy, entertainment, and real-world value.

At Gala, we work with flexibility; we have a great time with our colleagues and love getting things done. While working here, you'll imagine and create new and exciting things for the world to enjoy. Your talents and efforts will improve our audiences' lives in the real world.

And this is just the beginning…

About the role

Gala is excited to be building a robust and scalable infrastructure to support next-generation decentralized financial products and experiences. As part of our growing engineering team, we are looking for a skilled Senior Back-End Engineer to build, optimize, and maintain the systems powering our DeFi protocols and applications.

The Senior Back-End Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining backend systems and smart contracts that support our diverse portfolio of DeFi products. You will collaborate closely with front-end developers, smart contract engineers, and Product Owners to create reliable, scalable, and secure blockchain-based solutions. This role requires technical expertise in DeFi protocols, smart contract development, and blockchain infrastructure, along with strong problem-solving skills and a passion for improving system performance and security.

You will be a part of a company of super-achievers who work together to bring forth the evolution of decentralized finance. The ideal candidate has prior DeFi protocol development experience, excellent people skills, business acumen, and an exemplary work ethic. We want someone with experience and passion for web3, smart contracts, and DeFi primitives. We would love someone with a deep understanding of blockchain architecture, strong protocol design skills, and an impressive track record for working in a fast-paced, evolving, DeFi-focused environment.

Important:

• This role requires on-site collaboration at the designated office location, five days a week, subject to project needs and deliverables.
• This role requires significant overlap with US business hours to facilitate collaboration with US teams.

What you'll do

• Develop and maintain backend systems and APIs to support product features and functionality.
• Design cloud-based solutions focusing on high availability, scalability, and reliability on AWS.
• Collaborate with DevOps engineers, front-end developers, and smart contract developers to build seamless and efficient solutions for game teams and other internal stakeholders.
• Troubleshoot and debug backend issues, ensuring the smooth operation and performance of systems, addressing bugs, and optimizing performance.
• Participate in code reviews, provide feedback to peers, and contribute to the establishment and improvement of best practices across the team.
• Continuously improve the codebase through refactoring, optimization, and adopting modern practices to ensure high performance, security, and maintainability.
• Monitor and ensure the availability and performance of backend systems through proactive analysis and alerting.
• Stay current with the latest trends in backend development, cloud architecture, and related technologies and apply them to enhance our systems.

Qualifications

• More than 5 years of experience in this type of role
• Strong experience in backend development, working with languages such as Node.js and Typescript.
• Experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs and working with microservices architecture.
• Hands-on experience with AWS cloud platforms, particularly in designing scalable and reliable infrastructure.
• Familiarity with database technologies (MySQL, Postgres) and caching mechanisms.
• Knowledge of containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience in troubleshooting, debugging, and optimizing backend systems for performance and scalability.
• Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., GitLab) and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to work in a collaborative, team-oriented environment.
• Experience in the gaming industry or working with real-time systems.
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools such as Terraform.
• Familiarity with web3, blockchain technologies, or decentralized applications (dApps).Self-motivated, stellar work ethic, fun collaborator
• Excited by problem-solving
• Fearless

#LI-Onsite

Gala is an equal-opportunity employer and adopts a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.

We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all current and prospective employees regardless of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.

We aspire to have a diverse workforce because, in our view, diversity enables better business outcomes. We also believe that a more inclusive workplace, where people of different backgrounds work together, ensures better outcomes for all staff. From application to interview, we place inclusion at the heart of all we do.

Employee Benefits

• U.S. based Employees receive 100% employee-covered benefits (Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance)
• Employee Assistance Program and much more

If you have the experience, passion, and drive to join our team, then please submit a resume by clicking the apply button below

Please note that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for our positions. Applicants must have the legal right to work in the country indicated by the job description without the need for visa sponsorship.

Gala does not accept unsolicited referrals or resumes from any source other than directly from candidates. We will not consider unsolicited referrals and/or resumes from vendors including, and without limitation, search firms, staffing agencies, fee-based referral services, and recruiting agencies. Gala will consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume to have been referred by the Agency free of any charges or fees. We kindly ask that external recruitment agencies or third-party vendors refrain from contacting any managers or senior leadership directly regarding job postings or potential candidate submissions.