Who we are
At Fortis Games we aspire to make great games that bring people together while redefining how game companies work. We believe in building a sense of belonging through our games, their communities, and how we operate and treat each other. Through our game communities, we will create powerful connections and lasting memories. We will foster a culture of diversity, equity and belonging where together our diverse skills, experiences and backgrounds impact the games we make.
We are an early but mighty organization with a leadership team of game industry veterans. There are many opportunities for you to have a big impact on the products we'll be making as well as the overall direction of the company. If you're passionate about tackling difficult problems with direct and thoughtful communication and team first mentality, we may be the right place for you.
About the role
As the Director of Data Engineering at Fortis Games, you will lead the strategy, delivery, and evolution of our game-agnostic data platform — the foundation powering real-time personalization, analytics, and event-driven experiences for millions of players worldwide.
Your first-year mission: deliver a scalable, self-service data platform that supports 100M+ players with sub-100ms ingestion latency — enabling game teams to ship features, run experiments, and generate insights faster without backend friction.
You’ll oversee the Data Engineering group, covering data ingestion, analytics SDKs, APIs, and ML infrastructure. Your mandate is to ensure Fortis’ data systems are reliable, cost-efficient, and developer-friendly, while championing excellence in distributed systems, data software design, and observability.
This is a highly collaborative leadership role: you’ll work closely with Data Science, Machine Learning, Analytics, and Game Development teams to translate gameplay and business needs into scalable, production-grade data services that enable experimentation, personalization, and deep player insight.
What you’ll achieve
- Lead and grow a high-performing Data Software Engineering team, fostering a culture of technical excellence and ownership.
- Define and execute a three-year data systems vision and 12-month roadmap aligned with Fortis’ personalization strategy.
- Architect and scale real-time data processing and API-based systems using tools such as Redpanda, Flink, ClickHouse, and Iceberg.
- Partner cross-functionally with Game Development, Data Science, and Analytics to deliver end-to-end data workflows.
- Automate pipelines and improve developer velocity by removing operational bottlenecks.
- Establish and track key metrics, including uptime, latency, and cost per million events.
- Champion reliability, scalability, and developer experience, driving adoption across all Fortis studios.
- Ensure data privacy and compliance with global standards (GDPR, CCPA) across all standards (GDPR, CCPA).
What you’ll need to be successful
- Proven leadership of Data or Software Engineering teams building large-scale, real-time data systems.
- Deep technical expertise in distributed data processing, event streaming, and API design.
- Experience with pub/sub messaging systems (Kafka, Redpanda, Pulsar) and workflow orchestration (Airflow, Dagster).
- Cloud-native architecture proficiency across AWS, GCP, or Azure.
- Strong understanding of ML infrastructure and pipelines—enabling ML engineers and data scientists.
- Demonstrated ability to balance long-term architectural vision with rapid delivery cycles.
- Excellent communication and cross-functional influence skills.
- Commitment to data quality, observability, and governance best practices.
Please note: This role requires regular working-hours overlap with US business hours, typically extending up to 9:00 PM GMT, Monday–Thursday.
Why join us
There are many reasons to join us, but here are a few:
- We strongly believe we are changing how games studios operate and at the core of what we do is making great games that create a connected community
- We're not just about making Games Where You Belong. We're also about building communities where our people belong. That's why Fortis is a thriving environment that celebrates diversity, embraces inclusivity, and fosters growth.
- Build and grow with a seasoned team of accomplished talent who have left an impactful mark in their disciplines, both in and out of gaming
Fortis is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
