Server Tools Lead, Central Tech
Space Ape Games
We are looking for an experienced Server Tools Lead to join our central Game Tech organization. This role is central to empowering our server tools team to deliver robust, scalable, and high-quality backend solutions that serve all our live games. You will play a key role in ensuring our team remains motivated, aligned, and equipped to do their best work.
The Server Tools team is mainly responsible for our internal engine server framework, server build and deployment tooling. It also builds and maintains tooling used for game backend development, testing and observability.
Reporting to the Head of Game Engine, you will be responsible for shaping the vision, identity, and strategy for the team. You will deeply understand the needs and requirements of all our live games regarding their server tools, and translate those into an aligned and prioritized roadmap for your team. More specifically, you will be responsible for building, nurturing, and guiding a high-performing team of server engineers. You will help them stay focused on priorities, remove obstacles, and create a sustainable environment that fosters collaboration, growth, and continuous improvement.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment and greatly enjoys working in a central enabling function with multiple stakeholder groups.
What You’ll Be Doing
People Leadership & Recruitment
Foster a strong team culture built on trust, accountability, and shared purpose.
Lead with empathy and clarity, setting clear expectations and direction.
Define roles and responsibilities within the team and identify staffing needs.
Own the full employee lifecycle, including hiring, onboarding, and trial periods.
Mentor and support team members by empowering individual strengths and identifying growth opportunities.
Vision & Direction
Partner with the Game Tech leadership to translate organizational goals into clear team-level direction and execution plans.
Ensure alignment across projects and stakeholders.
Balance short-term delivery needs with long-term technical health and scalability.
Operational Excellence
Facilitate team meetings and syncs, keeping the team aligned on goals, progress, and priorities.
Oversee resource allocation and project staffing to ensure the right people are focused on the right challenges.
Support project tracking, ensuring visibility on timelines, dependencies, and outcomes.
Planning & Delivery
Collaborate with server engineers, peer leads, and stakeholders on release planning, roadmaps, and cross-team dependencies.
Help the team prioritize effectively, balancing innovation and new development with maintenance and live support needs.
Drive predictable delivery while maintaining room for continuous improvement.
Team Culture & Wellbeing
Plan and facilitate team events and initiatives that strengthen relationships and morale.
Maintain open communication channels where feedback, experimentation, and improvement are part of daily work.
Create a sustainable environment that supports both high performance and well-being.
What You Have
Proven track record of people leadership within the gaming industry in a technical domain, preferably in game server development or a similar backend engineering environment.
Experience working with large-scale backend tools and systems.
Excellent project management, organizational & stakeholder management skills.
A genuine passion for people development and helping others grow and succeed.
Excellent interpersonal & relationship skills: proven track record of building collaborative relationships and ability to influence.
Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational leadership.
Would Be Nice if You Also Have
Familiarity with build systems, deployment pipelines, observability, and live operations tooling.
Experience in leading a team supporting a platform or a service for multiple stakeholders.
Knowledge of various server and backend frameworks, cloud environments, and scalable distributed systems.
Interest in games and enabling high-performing game teams through shared technology.
Where You'll Be
This role is based in our Helsinki office.
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That's it about the role! Below, we've gathered some things we feel are important for you to know. Totally optional, but a highly recommended read.
Once you're ready to apply, just send us your application through the form on the bottom of the page.
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About Supercell
Supercell is a games company from Helsinki, Finland, with offices also in San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and London. You might know us as the makers of Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars. Our mission is to create great games that as many people as possible play for years and that are remembered forever.
So, how do we make great games? By putting together the best teams and giving them the freedom and independence to succeed. And by taking risks, failing, sharing learnings, and killing lots of projects.
Hey, You Might Love It Here!
Independent cells and trust are at the core of our culture. But it takes more than that to make great games. We take good care of our people, providing them with the compensation, work environment, and resources they need to succeed while having fun along the way.
You Are Not Your Job Title ™
Here, you won’t need to focus on chasing titles or climbing ladders. Internally, our job titles don’t include prefixes like Senior, Junior, Principal, or Director. Recognition isn’t tied to your title, as it doesn't define the impact you can have around here.
Benefits and Compensation
Luring you in with glitter, glamour, and gems isn't what we're about. We want you to enjoy your time here fully, so we structure our compensation and benefits with that in mind. It starts with perceiving you as a human being, not a resource.
Relocation? Yes!
No matter where you’re moving from, our dedicated mobility team and partners will support you throughout your move. We’ll ensure the process is as smooth as possible for you and anyone joining you – whether they’re family members of the human or animal kind!
Not Sure if You Should Apply?
Many candidates with great skills and experience second-guess themselves. The bar is high, but if this role excites you, apply! We’re here to help you succeed. Also, we're happy to learn about any specific accommodations you may need to fully engage in our recruitment process.
Wishing you all the best,
The Supercell Recruitment team
P.S.
Here's a video about what Supercell is about.
Best enjoyed with salmiakki and rye bread!
