Lead Game Engineer - New Game (Berlin)

At Trailmix, our players are the reason we exist, and this drives our mission: to create delightful spaces where millions of people can flourish. Our hit game Love & Pies, launched in September 2021, has resonated with millions worldwide, and we build free-to-play mobile games that are snackable yet filled with heart, humour, and stories that stick. 

We’re a focused and highly collaborative team with a big creative spirit. We believe the best games are made when the people behind them feel inspired, supported, and proud of the work they do. 

That’s why our values sit at the heart of how we work, shaping every decision and creative choice we make.

Trailmix Values

• We win as one: Success is shared, and collaboration fuels everything we do, because great games are never built solo.
• We are resilient by nature: We adapt and rise stronger each time, because every challenge is a chance to evolve.
• We are powered by our players: Every choice begins with them, because when our players thrive, so do we.
• We are kind and direct: We speak with honesty and care, because clarity and compassion build the trust that makes us better.
• We stay curious and grow: We ask, explore, and learn, because curiosity keeps our creativity alive.
• We decide boldly and own fully: We move with courage and conviction, because great ideas only matter when we stand behind them.

The Opportunity

As Lead Game Engineer on a New Game Project in Berlin, you are accountable for the technical direction, delivery confidence, and people leadership of the engineering team building our next game. This role carries full hands-on engineering craft and extends into people management and delivery accountability. You will still write code - often hands-on prototyping - but your primary impact comes from enabling others, owning the technical approach, and turning early concepts into validated, scalable builds. You hold direct line-management responsibility for the engineering team (initially small), and are accountable for their performance, growth, and clarity of ownership. We are hiring this role to build toward a sustainable Live Games team - not a career-prototyper function - so you set architecture and standards now that will hold as your project scales from discovery into live.

The Day to Day

The New Game Project in Berlin is in discovery. Your job is to move fast and validate - prove ideas out or kill weak ones quickly. You optimise for learning speed now, while bringing the architectural judgment and standards that set the game up to be built well as it moves toward production.

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Own the game’s architecture and technical direction; make the major technical calls and bring the team in where it matters. You define which decisions you own, delegate, or take to the team - and you are accountable for the outcome, not for making every call alone.
• Match engineering investment to the stage - keep prototyping fast and lightweight, and know when something warrants production-grade rigour.
• Uphold engineering standards, code quality, and performance; stay hands-on in complex or high-impact work, often at the prototyping coalface.
• Set the architecture, standards, and validated learnings the production build will be based on as the game moves toward greenlight.

People Leadership & Team Development

• Line manage the engineering team, including Senior Engineers - accountable for their performance, growth, and clarity of ownership.
• Run regular 1:1s and give kind, direct, actionable feedback; support career-progression conversations and development planning.
• Set clear expectations, address performance concerns early and constructively, and grow engineers who can make strong calls without you - your impact is measured by the team’s effectiveness, not just your own output.

Delivery & Outcome Accountability

• Break large initiatives into clear, parallelisable deliverables; identify critical-path risks early and communicate trade-offs.
• Partner with Product/Design and Production to align on scope and feasibility.
• Improve processes, tooling, and automation to reduce last-minute heroics; protect both delivery predictability and team sustainability.
• Instrument features so concepts can be validated quickly against player and product signals.

Technical Craft & Concepting

• Rapidly prototype new gameplay systems and mechanics to test ideas and kill weak ones fast.
• Translate creative and design concepts into working prototypes that prove out - or disprove - the idea quickly.
• Apply AI tooling to accelerate prototyping, experimentation, and day-to-day engineering workflows (e.g. code generation, tooling, content pipelines).

Collaboration & Stakeholder Impact

• Represent Engineering in cross-functional discussions; communicate technical constraints and trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Raise risks early; encourage healthy debate while ensuring decisions are made; foster trust through clarity, transparency, and follow-through.
• Work closely with the Head of Technology to shape engineering standards and technical strategy across the studio, connecting the team's work to the bigger technical picture.
• Choose the founding stack and architecture for the New Game Project in Berlin alongside the Head of Technology, then own the build and lead the team that turns those foundations into the game.

About You - Skills & Expertise

• Extensive experience within F2P mobile games, including at least one title you helped ship and operate live.
• Track record of taking new gameplay features or prototypes from concept to validated, shippable build.
• Experience line-managing engineers (including Senior Engineers) - running 1:1s, owning performance, and supporting growth.
• Hands-on experience applying AI tools to engineering and prototyping workflows.
• Familiarity with, and curiosity about, web technologies - especially as a fast medium for concepting and prototyping.
• Strong architectural understanding and systems thinking; strong grasp of CI/CD, testing strategy, performance, and scalability.
• Proven live-games technical craft - designing, scaling, and operating systems that run reliably in production.
• Demonstrable depth in the core stack: engine/runtime Unity / C#, gameplay/client architecture, and profiling/optimisation.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and rapid iteration cycles typical of a discovery / new-games team.

At Trailmix, we care as much about how you work as what you deliver. We believe that when people feel safe, inspired, and proud of what they do, that passion flows directly into how we work with one another, our games, and ultimately, our players feel it. 

That means we’re looking for someone who:

• Builds impact through collaboration: you know the best work comes from shared perspectives and collective wins.
• Grows stronger through challenges: you adapt, stay positive, and help others find a way forward when things get messy.
• Keeps players at the heart of decisions: you design, create, and problem-solve with empathy, knowing players are our why.
• Communicates with clarity and care: you give feedback that builds trust, and you listen openly so ideas can flourish.
• Stays curious and lifts others up: you experiment, learn quickly, and share your discoveries generously, raising the bar for the whole team.
• Moves with courage and ownership: you make bold calls when it matters, and you stand by them with accountability.

Together, our values and the behaviours don’t just describe how you’ll succeed here - they’re how we create authentic games that players love, built by people who flourish.

We are an Office-First Studio

We work together from our Berlin studio because we believe fast, creative, lean game development thrives through close collaboration, quick feedback, and shared momentum.

Our home is a bright, well-acclimated, fully serviced office space at Willner, a former brewery near the S-Bahn ring. With endless snacks and drinks, table tennis, and a rooftop terrace for quiet breaks, it gives us the ideal environment to do our best work together.

While we mostly work from the studio, there may be agreed exceptions and a small number of flexible days each month when life outside of work needs it.

Our Inclusive Culture

Trailmix was founded to make a positive impact on our players, our community, and our colleagues. We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can flourish and feel seen.

We believe it’s vital that players see themselves represented in the games they play; and in Love & Pies, we celebrate the beautiful diversity of life. The stories, characters, and relationships in our games reflect the people we are and the people we love.

We’re always excited to welcome more people who share our passion for designing games that truly include everyone.

Extensive experience within F2P mobile games, including at least one title shipped and operated live. Track record of taking new gameplay features or prototypes from concept to validated, shippable build. Experience line-managing engineers (including Senior Engineers), running 1:1s, owning performance, and supporting growth. Hands-on experience applying AI tools to engineering and prototyping workflows. Familiarity with web technologies for concepting and prototyping. Strong architectural understanding and systems thinking; strong grasp of CI/CD, testing strategy, performance, and scalability. Proven live-games technical craft for designing, scaling, and operating systems reliably in production. Demonstrable depth in Unity / C#, gameplay/client architecture, and profiling/optimisation. Comfort operating in ambiguity and rapid iteration cycles.