Lead Server Engineer

Lead Server Engineer – Gold Fish Casino Slots

We’re hiring a Lead Server Engineer to help evolve the long‑running PHP codebase that powers Gold Fish Casino Slots . The codebase has decade‑long history, overlapping initiatives, and requires significant improvements. This hands‑on role focuses on making the codebase better, not keeping it from getting worse.

• Technical depth is a minimum bar; strong engineering judgment at two levels is required: (1) technical execution order across a long arc of work, and (2) one’s own scope of ownership and design.

• Work with engineering leadership on roadmap and trade‑offs, set technical standards, mentor mid‑level engineers, and write production code.

• Identify and prioritize technical work, unblocking dependencies and determining safe incremental shipping.
• Own and ship code that runs in production, with careful attention to load, failure modes, and 2AM reliability.
• Make judgment on testing—unit vs heavier verification, flag‑based rollouts.
• Lead code reviews and set a high standard of code quality.
• Communicate trade‑offs, risks, and design decisions clearly to the team.

• 7+ years of professional software engineering with senior/lead experience on a production system.
• Deep proficiency in PHP, Composer, dependency injection containers (Symfony DI or equivalent), and static analysis.
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers; ability to set standards through code and reviews.
• Strong judgment on technical execution and personal scope of work.
• Ability to write robust production code that addresses load and failure considerations.

• AI is a power tool, not a teammate – use it for speed on repetitive work, but keep engineering judgment and ownership.
• Excellent communication skills; surfacing trade‑offs and risks early with evidence.
• Clear design docs and PR descriptions that enable engineers to act without meetings.
• Willingness to review code and provide constructive feedback.

• Curious – investigate root causes, look for patterns, and understand system behavior.
• Critical thinker – question patterns and validate answers.
• Design maturity – hold competing patterns and decide convergence.
• Team multiplier – improve teammates through review, design, and pairing.
• Product‑mindful – understand that code directly impacts real players.

• Large‑scale architectural refactors on legacy PHP.
• Experience with modern observability stacks (metrics, tracing, profiling, structured logs).
• Production experience in high‑throughput, revenue‑critical services.
• Vue.js or jQuery experience.
• AWS or other cloud technology.

• Competitive salaries and annual bonuses.
• Matching 401k.
• Open office concept with ergonomic seating and standing desks.
• Game room with consoles, table games, and current titles.
• Fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks; company‑paid lunches twice a week.
• Paid family leave and volunteer time.
• Annual two‑night company retreat.

Sci Play is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants based on race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, or disability. For more information, please see our EEOC poster.