# Lead Generalist Programmer

> Side · United States (Remote) · — · Posted 2026-03-25

**Salary:** USD 80,000–120,000

**Workplace:** remote

**Department:** Codev Programming

## Description

### Lead Generalist Programmer

**North America**

Side is a global game development partner helping studios bring games to life across co-development, art, audio, QA, player support, and more. We work alongside developers and publishers to solve production challenges at every stage, from active development through live operations.

We’re looking for a **Lead Generalist Programmer** to help drive technical delivery across a range of game development engagements. This role is for a senior engineer who is equally comfortable leading people, collaborating with clients, and getting hands-on in code. You should bring strong technical depth in both **Unity and Unreal**, experience guiding teams through production, and the judgment to move between gameplay systems, tools, optimization, and platform-specific problem solving as projects demand.

### What you’ll do

-   Lead and mentor engineers across active co-development and game development projects
-   Act as a senior technical partner to production, design, art, and client stakeholders
-   Contribute hands-on to implementation in **Unity and Unreal**, depending on project needs
-   Architect and review systems across gameplay, tools, UI, integration, optimization, and platform support
-   Establish engineering best practices for code quality, performance, maintainability, and delivery
-   Help scope work, identify technical risk early, and provide realistic production recommendations
-   Support hiring, onboarding, and growth of engineering talent within the team
-   Communicate technical tradeoffs clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
-   Partner with internal leadership and external clients to align technical execution with project goals

## Requirements

### What we’re looking for

-   **5+ years of professional game programming experience**
-   Experience leading or mentoring engineers in a production environment
-   Strong hands-on development experience in both **Unity and Unreal Engine**
-   Strong coding skills in **C# and C++**
-   Experience shipping games or major features on at least one of the following: **PC, console, or mobile**
-   Deep understanding of game architecture, pipelines, debugging, profiling, and optimization
-   Ability to work across multiple gameplay-adjacent domains such as gameplay systems, UI, animation systems, tooling, or integration
-   Strong understanding of technical risk, production tradeoffs, and scalable engineering practices
-   Excellent communication skills with the ability to work directly with clients, partners, and cross-functional teams

### Nice to have

-   Experience in a **co-development, outsourcing, or service-based studio environment**
-   Experience with console development and certification constraints
-   Familiarity with backend or online systems integration
-   Experience building internal tools and workflows for designers, artists, or production teams
-   Exposure to AWS, CI/CD pipelines, or live-service workflows
-   Experience helping scope projects, write technical proposals, or support business development conversations

## Benefits

This will be a contract role to start with the intent to convert to perm.

## Apply

[Apply at Side](https://apply.workable.com/sideinc/j/BBC99BB988/apply)

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