Senior Software Developer

About Shockbyte

Have you ever jumped into a Minecraft world, battled in ARK, or built in Rust? Chances are, you've already played on a Shockbyte server. We support 60+ games and host hundreds of thousands of players around the world, which makes us one of the largest game server hosting companies out there.

We started back in 2013 with one clear goal: to make game servers easy. It began when our founder Mitch ran a custom Minecraft server that blew up in popularity, and learned firsthand that hosting was too complicated, support was inconsistent, and players deserved better. We set out to change that, and along the way we became a leader in the Player-Owned Game Server (POGS) space, a term we actually coined.

We're not just running servers. We're building the future of multiplayer. Our long-term vision is to become a leading global infrastructure company, starting with gaming but not stopping there. We build powerful infrastructure as the foundation and layer intuitive tools on top, so complexity gets out of the way and people can focus on what they love. You'd be joining a global team that cares about making game hosting smooth for players and studios everywhere.

About the role

We're hiring a Senior Software Developer to be a core contributor on our product and the key technical anchor for our Melbourne office.

You'll be working on the platform that powers everything we do, the unified system our customers use to spin up, run, and manage their game servers, supporting both player-owned and first-party servers on a single infrastructure. This is the product that brings our mission to life: making game servers easy. You'll develop projects end to end, write real solutions, ship features that customers feel, and focus on the company goals we set each quarter. You'll weigh in on architecture, review code, and bring ideas to how we build, with some R&D work mixed in.

You'll work across our full stack, including NestJS, VueJS, React/Next.js, Go, TypeScript, Kubernetes, and SQL, to deliver high-quality and reliable solutions for gamers everywhere.

Heads up on hours: most of our engineering team sits in Europe, so you'll need to be flexible with your schedule. Some meetings and syncs will fall outside normal Australian business hours so we can stay connected with the rest of the team.

On AI: we see it as a tool that significantly boosts what an IC can do. We want everyone at Shockbyte to experiment with it, learn where it helps and where it does not, and share findings so the whole team gets better with it.

What you'll do

• Contribute to core product work as a senior engineer, helping with architecture, code reviews, and shipping features on the platform at the heart of our mission.
• Build and ship new pages, components, and features across our website, improving how it looks, performs, and converts.
• Experiment with AI tools like Claude Code, figure out where they help and where they do not, and share what you learn with the team.
• Support the Melbourne office as the senior technical person on the ground. Help unblock people, answer technical questions, and improve how we work.
• Keep our documentation in good shape so knowledge does not stay stuck in one person's head.
• Cover Australian business hours for reliability and stay in regular sync with the European dev team.

What we're looking for

• 5+ years of senior software development experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or similar (or equivalent hands-on experience).
• Strong full stack skills with a real understanding of how to build systems that are secure, scalable, and fast.
• Comfortable working with AI tools like Claude Code, and a good sense of where AI helps and where it does not.
• Product mindset. You can spot problems on your own, talk to stakeholders, and build the right thing instead of just the thing you were asked for.
• Self-managed. You can plan your own work and set priorities without someone checking in on you every day.
• Flexible with your hours so you can join European syncs when needed.
• Based in Melbourne and able to work from the office 3 days a week.
• Genuinely into games and game servers. You've maybe run a Minecraft community, played a lot of Rust, or messed around with a home lab. You care about what happens server-side.
• Deep system design knowledge. You think about trade-offs and can design for high concurrency and large data loads.

Nice to have

• Background in cloud infrastructure or game server orchestration.
• Experience leading or growing a small technical team.
• A passion for automating away repetitive dev work.
• IT or sysadmin background. Comfortable in a Linux terminal, networking, and bare-metal setups.
• Familiar with the gaming industry, including events like GDC or Gamescom.
• Experience with our stack: NestJS, VueJS, React/Next.js, Go, TypeScript, Kubernetes, and SQL.

Benefits

• 🌏 Hybrid work, so you can split time between home and the office.
• ⏰ Flexible hours that fit your peak productivity times.
• 🚀 Clear career growth with real long-term opportunities.
• 📚 Professional development budget for courses, certifications, and conferences.
• 💻 Home office or coworking stipend to set up your workspace.
• 🎮 Physical and virtual team events like trivia, escape rooms, and game nights.
• 👕 Company merch packs with hoodies, mugs, and stickers.
• ✈️ Travel opportunities to represent Shockbyte at global industry events.
• 🖥️ Free game server hosting so you can spin up your own and play on us.
• 🏆 Free tickets to esports tournaments and gaming expos.

Our values

Internally we call them the Stormbringer Values:

• 100% Completion: Take ownership, see things through, and never leave problems unsolved.
• Push the Objective: Lead with bold actions and create real change.
• Level Up: Always grow, learn, and help others grow along the way.
• Drop the Shield: Embrace feedback, be transparent, and let go of ego.
• Reveal the Map: Share knowledge, make the path forward clear, and guide others toward success.

These are the core of how we work and what we look for in new hires.

Our approach to hiring

We're looking for A-players who want to leave a lasting impact, people who bring valuable skills and experience, raise the bar for how we operate, and align with our core values. The people we hire define our team and our culture, so we take the time to find the right fit.

Our hiring process reflects this commitment. You'll start with an application, then an assessment test, followed by a one-way screening interview, then an on-site skills interview at our Melbourne office, and finally a call with our CEO. We've designed this process to find the best people for the role, and to make sure Shockbyte is the right fit for you to make a big and lasting impact.