Staff Software Engineer - Backend
Staff-level backend IC on FACEIT's Central Platform Team at ESL FACEIT Group, owning core runtime systems: the Envoy-based API gateway, auth services, and high-traffic Kubernetes services. Designs and scales distributed Go services over REST/gRPC with MongoDB, Postgres, and Redis, and drives technical direction across teams.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Europe; London, United Kingdom
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Staff
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Backend
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Expert in Go with a proven track record of shipping production-grade backend systems
- Deep experience architecting, modeling, and optimizing NoSQL and SQL data stores (MongoDB, Postgres, Redis/Valkey)
- Familiarity with authentication/authorisation and secure-by-design principles
- Strong reliability and operational knowledge: observability, SLOs, performance and capacity, designing systems to fail gracefully under load
- Deep, hands-on Envoy expertise, having run it in production and understanding how it interacts with Istio and the wider service mesh
- Strong systems-thinking background with judgement to make architectural decisions affecting multiple teams
- Fearless attitude toward owning and fixing any part of the system
- Proficiency with AI-assisted development workflows to maximise efficiency
- Instinct for end-to-end ownership, deep curiosity, and thriving in a culture of calculated experimentation and continuous learning
Nice to have
- Genuine passion for gaming and esports
- Actively mentored peers or juniors outside of direct project scope
- Professional exposure to Java/Spring frameworks
- Full-stack versatility, able to spin up internal tools using React and Next.js
Full description
At EFG (ESL FACEIT Group) we create worlds beyond gameplay where players and fans become community. We pride ourselves in having a corporate social responsibility which is that “IT’S NOT GG, UNTIL IT’S GG FOR ALL”. We are passionate about the culture we foster that ultimately helps to create and shape the world of esports, gaming tournaments, leagues, events and holistic ecosystems staged for our millions of players, fans and heroes.
Everything we do, from global esports tournaments and community-driven leagues to next-generation platforms and live events, is rooted in our passion, craftsmanship, and culture. With millions of players and fans around the world, we aim to shape the future of esports and gaming by building ecosystems that are inclusive, innovative, and enduring.
About FACEIT
As one of the core pillars of EFG, FACEIT is the beating heart of competitive online gaming. With over 26 million registered users playing 30 million matches each month, we are the industry leader in competitive play. Our platform is where gamers of all levels come together to test their skills, climb the ranks, and forge communities.
At FACEIT, we’re relentless in our pursuit of excellence. We push the limits of technology, deliver cutting-edge features, and provide an unparalleled competitive gaming experience. Our vision is simple: to empower every player to reach their full potential, while keeping competition fair, engaging, and thrilling.
The Role
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer - Backend to join our Central Platform Team, the group responsible for building and maintaining the core runtime systems that form the foundational layer of our stack. This spans everything from our Envoy-based API gateway and authentication services to the high-traffic core services that run on top of our Kubernetes platform and service mesh. This is a Staff-level individual-contributor role, which means your impact reaches well beyond the code you write. You’ll own and deliver projects end-to-end across teams and functions, make technical decisions that multiple teams depend on, and help shape the overall technical direction of the platform.
You build with a “LEGO bricks” philosophy, favouring modular, reusable, cleanly composed components, while knowing when that approach fits the problem and when it doesn’t. Sometimes a quick one-off solution is the right call; other problems call for a longer-term investment. You can weigh those trade-offs and reason about them clearly, often seeing value in a less obvious approach that others miss, and you can explain your thinking to the rest of the business, including non-technical stakeholders. You pair deep technical expertise with relentless curiosity about why complex systems behave the way they do, and you treat modern AI tooling as a way to move faster without ever losing your grounding in solid engineering fundamentals.