Senior FullStack Game Developer

About us

We build fast, gorgeous browser games that run anywhere — no

downloads, no plugins. Our partial flagship, Moto Stunt Riders, is a neon endless-runner with real-time gameplay, online leaderboards, player accounts, and an in-game shop.

We care about the details players feel: silky frame rates, instant loads, and UI that looks as good as the game plays.

We're a small, senior team that ships. You'll have real ownership from day one.

The role

We're hiring a Senior Full-Stack Developer to help take our web games to the next level — building new gameplay, tightening performance, and growing the services behind accounts, scores, and matchmaking.

You'll work across the whole stack: the React front end, the HTML5 canvas game engine, and the Node/Express + SQLite backend that powers it all.

What you'll do

- Design and build new game features and polished, responsive UI in React + TailwindCSS.

- Write and optimize HTML5 Canvas game logic — physics, input, rendering, and a smooth 60 fps loop.

- Build and maintain backend services: REST APIs, authentication, persistence, leaderboards.

- Profile and fix performance bottlenecks across load time and interaction (large lists, render cost, network waterfalls).

- Own features end-to-end — from spec, through implementation and testing, to release.

- Raise the bar on code quality through reviews, sensible architecture, and pragmatic tests.

Tech stack

You don't need every item, but you should be strong in most of it:

- Front end: React 18 (hooks, context), Vite, TailwindCSS, modern JavaScript (ES2022+)

- Game/graphics: HTML5 Canvas 2D, `requestAnimationFrame` game loops, basic 2D physics

- Back end: Node.js, Express, REST API design

- Data & auth: SQLite (or similar), password hashing/sessions, secure auth flows

- Tooling: Git, npm, browser dev tools / profiling

What we're looking for

- 5+ years building production web applications, with real front-end depth.

- Fluency in React and modern JavaScript; you understand rendering, state, and re-render cost.

- Experience building and consuming HTTP APIs and working with a relational store.

- A track record of diagnosing performance problems with data, not guesswork.

- Care for UX and visual polish — you notice jank and fix it.

- Clear written communication and the self-direction to own work in a small team.

Nice to have

- Shipped a game or interactive/animation-heavy app on the web.

- Canvas/WebGL, audio, or real-time (WebSocket) experience.

- Security mindset for auth, sessions, and input validation.

- TypeScript.

What we offer

- [Competitive salary + equity/bonus]

- [Remote-first / flexible hours]

- [Health, learning budget, hardware, PTO — fill in]

- Small team, high ownership, real players using what you ship.

Take-home assignment

Strong candidates are invited to a paid / time-boxed take-home (~[3–4] hours)

built on a slimmed-down version of our real Moto Stunt Riders codebase

(React + Vite + Tailwind on the front end; Node/Express + SQLite on the back end).

You'll receive the repository with a short TASK.md. Typical assignments include:

1. Performance — The garage screen renders thousands of bikes and the search / sort / favorite interactions lag. Find *why* (measure, don't guess) and make it smooth without changing behavior.

2. Feature — Add a self-contained feature end-to-end (e.g. a new gameplay mechanic, an API endpoint + UI, or an auth improvement) that fits the existing architecture.

We evaluate:

- Correctness & UX — does it work, and does it feel good to use?

- Problem-solving — for perf tasks, did you *measure* the real bottleneck?

- Code quality — clear, consistent with the codebase, appropriately tested.

- Communication — a short write-up of your approach, trade-offs, and what you'd

do next with more time. A before/after measurement (numbers or a short clip) is a plus.

Please keep changes scoped to the task, and don't rewrite unrelated code.

How to apply

Send your CV / portfolio and a few lines on a web project you're proud of. GitHub profile is accepted.

We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and don't discriminate on any protected characteristic.

Contact: brandon[@]playversa[.]org