Lead Game Developer (Unreal Engine / Unity)

About BFB Labs

At BFB Labs, we build pioneering digital health products and evidence-based games that transform youth mental health. Our flagship app, Lumi Nova, along with our wider portfolio, blends engaging gameplay with clinical efficacy to empower children and young people to self manage their mental health. We are looking for an experienced Lead Game Developer to shape our technical architecture, drive continuous delivery across app stores, and keep our apps stable and performant—balancing new feature development with bug fixes to continuously improve stability, player engagement, and clinical outcomes.

The Role

As our Lead Game Developer, you will sit at the heart of our technical execution. You will drive front-end and back-end game development, lead app store release pipelines across multiple platforms, and partner closely with our Full-Stack developer to integrate secure analytics and cloud architecture.

Beyond hands-on development, you will serve as a technical mentor for our mid-level developer, establishing robust coding standards, conducting peer reviews, and ensuring our therapeutic mobile apps are optimised, maintainable, and technically robust.

Key Responsibilities

• Core Game Development: Lead end-to-end client and server-side game feature development across iOS, Android, and tablet platforms.

• Architecture & Mentorship: Own codebase architecture, enforce high-quality coding standards, conduct constructive PR reviews, and actively mentor mid-level game developers.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with our Full-Stack Developer to connect front-end game loops with our AWS backend architecture, securing data persistence and analytics routing.

• Release & Build Pipeline Management: Maintain and optimise our automated build pipelines across Jenkins, GitHub, Bitbucket, Plastic SCM, and Jira.

• App Store Submissions: Oversee the submission lifecycle, compliance checks, and updates for the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Amazon Appstore.

• Optimisation & Performance: Drive best practices for device profiling, memory management, frame-rate stabilisation, and performance across diverse mobile hardware profiles.

Required Skills & Experience

• Senior Leadership: 3+ years of experience in a Senior or Lead Game Developer role, with a proven track record of managing and mentoring other engineers.

• Primary Engine Expertise (Unreal Engine): Advanced proficiency in Unreal Engine, including deep hands-on expertise with both C++ and Blueprints (vital for our flagship project, Lumi Nova).

• Secondary Engine Flexibility: Familiarity with Unity (C#) and a strong willingness and ability to jump between both engines as project needs evolve.

• Mobile & Tablet Deployment: Extensive experience building, profiling, optimising, and releasing commercial games on iOS, Android, and Amazon mobile environments.

• App Store Mastery: Up-to-date knowledge of current guidelines, submission workflows, and technical policies for Apple, Google, and Amazon stores.

• Version Control & CI/CD: Hands-on experience working with Plastic SCM, Git/GitHub/Bitbucket, Jira, and configuring automated builds with Jenkins.

• Full-Stack & Data Integration: Proven ability to work alongside backend teams to integrate APIs, save data states, and route gameplay analytics.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience designing accessible UI/UX systems (e.g., screen reader compatibility, colorblind accessibility, customisable UI scales).

• Experience with automated unit testing frameworks within Unreal Engine or Unity.

What We Offer

• Salary: £55,000 – £65,000 per annum (Dependent on experience)

• Purpose-Driven Work: The code you write and oversee will directly support young people going through clinical mental health pathways.

• Great Perks:

  • 28 days of annual leave (plus bank holidays) which we usually top off with a discretionary extra 3 days off over the Christmas period so you can fully recharge.

  • 1 extra day annual leave for every year you're with us (up to 5 additional days).

  • Access to the company pension scheme

  • Flexibility to work remotely for up to one week twice a year (taken as separate sessions)

  • Hybrid Flexibility: Work from our fantastic co-working space in Farringdon (Central London) 3 days a week, with the remainder remote. We value flexibility and are open to discussing individual productive arrangements.

  • A Vibrant Culture: Join a diverse, inclusive, and multi-award-winning team during an exciting early-stage growth phase.

How to Apply

We are looking for the right person to start ASAP. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

To apply, please send your CV along with a Cover Letter explaining why you are suited to this role to [email removed].

Our Interview Process

1. Screening: An initial call via Google Meet to ensure a mutual fit.

2. In-Person Interview: A final interview held at our Farringdon office space.

3. Technical Task: A practical exercise designed to let your engineering logic shine.

We maintain a strict and high level of confidentiality for all applicants.