At Trailmix, our players are the very reason we exist and our mission is 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.
Our values are what set Trailmix apart: they guide us in crafting games that are joyful, authentic, and player-first. We've created a workplace where both people and players feel seen, supported, and inspired. If you’re excited by meaningful creativity, true collaboration, and making games that bring people joy, you’ll feel right at home here, too.
The Opportunity
As Lead Game Engineer on a New Game Project in London, 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 on the systems that carry live traffic - but your primary impact comes from enabling others, owning the technical approach, and turning a game that works into one that keeps working at scale. 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 - so the architecture and standards you set now have to hold as the game grows in players, content and complexity, year after year.
The Day to Day
Our New Games are being built to run for years, not to be proven and handed on. Your job is to get it live and keep it moving - a dependable release cadence, fast diagnosis when something breaks, and a codebase that can absorb continuous new content without seizing up. You optimise for sustainable velocity: shipping change into a running game without putting the player experience, the data, or the team at risk.
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 risk - keep routine content, tuning and config changes cheap and fast to ship, and know when something touching live data, economy or player accounts warrants full production rigour.
- Uphold engineering standards, code quality, and performance; stay hands-on in complex or high-impact work, often on the systems where a mistake reaches players fastest.
- Set the architecture and standards the game will be operated on for years - so growth in players, content, and team size doesn't mean rebuilding.
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 their effect on player behaviour and product metrics is visible quickly, and so regressions surface in hours rather than weeks.
Technical Craft & Live Operations
- Build and evolve the gameplay and live-service systems behind the game - features shipped behind flags, released incrementally, and rollback-able when they misbehave.
- Own the health of the running game: telemetry, alerting and on-call practice that surface problems before players report them, and blameless diagnosis when they don't.
- Apply AI tooling to accelerate day-to-day engineering, live-ops workflows, and content pipelines (e.g. code generation, internal tools, automated checks).
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.
- Own the New Game Project’s technical roadmap - where the stack needs to evolve, what debt gets paid down, and what platform and tooling investment the game needs to keep scaling - then lead the team that delivers it.
About You - Skills & Expertise
- Extensive experience within F2P mobile games, including at least one title you helped ship and operate live.
- Track record of shipping into a live game on a regular cadence without destabilising what is already running - release process, feature flags, migrations, rollback.
- Experience line-managing engineers (including Senior Engineers) - running 1:1s, owning performance, and supporting growth.
- Hands-on experience applying AI tools to real engineering work - code, tests, tooling, and content pipelines - not just experiments.
- Familiarity with, and curiosity about, web and backend technologies - the internal tools, dashboards, and services that make a live game operable day to day.
- Strong architectural understanding and systems thinking; strong grasp of CI/CD, testing strategy, performance, and scalability.
- Demonstrable depth in the core stack: engine/runtime Unity / C#, gameplay/client architecture, and profiling/optimisation.
- Working knowledge of the server side of a live game - backend services, live-ops configuration, economy and telemetry data - enough to own the end-to-end behaviour of a feature, hold a sensible architecture conversation with backend specialists, and judge where the risk really sits.
- Comfort operating in a live environment where priorities move with player data and incidents don't wait for a sprint boundary.
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.
Why Trailmix?
As a member of our team, you’ll work in an environment where collaboration and creative energy drive everything we do. We believe that working closely with colleagues from across departments is essential to crafting the best experiences for our players. Our office is a place where ideas come together, and we work side by side to turn them into reality.
Our London Studio Location
Our hybrid work model combines the flexibility of remote work with the creative energy of being together in person.
We work from our Kings Cross studio together three days a week — Monday, Thursday, and Friday, because we believe great games (and great teams) are built through genuine collaboration.
These days are focused, energised, and designed for impact:
- We solve problems faster
- We share ideas in the moment
- We drive decisions that move us forward
This rhythm helps us deliver our best work not just for each other, but for our players. It’s how we build momentum, grow together, and stay ahead in a fast-moving industry.
Our Benefits
- Investing in Your Growth: Unleash your potential with our generous development budget. After completing your three-month probation, all team members receive a £1,000 allowance to fuel their professional growth each year.
- Fueling Your Day: Our kitchens are fully stocked with delicious treats and drinks, and we provide breakfast and lunch supplies to keep you energised throughout the day.
- Building Connections: Join us every Friday for a team lunch courtesy of Just Eat - a chance to connect and recharge for the week ahead.
- Planning for Your Future: Take control of your financial future with our contributory pension scheme. Plus, enjoy the added benefit of tax-free contributions.
- Unlocking Ownership: As a valued team member, you'll have the opportunity to own a stake in our success through tax-advantaged stock options.
- Caring for Your Wellbeing: Your health is our priority. Enjoy peace of mind with our fully comprehensive private medical care, with premiums paid by Trailmix. Plus, access mental health support 24/7 with the Spill Mental Health App.
- Time to Recharge: Our generous holiday allowance allows you to take a well-deserved break. You'll enjoy 28 days of annual leave, including three company holiday days around Christmas.
- Surprise and Delight: Feel appreciated and valued with various company gifts throughout the year.
- Celebrations: Join us for various socials and events throughout the year, from team outings to themed parties.
- Setting You Up for Success: Receive a £250 work-from-home budget to ensure you have the proper home setup to perform at your best.
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.
