Senior Full-Stack Developer for Web Games

via Freelancer ·

Budget / Salary$5,000–10,000
TypeFreelance project
LocationRemote
Posted3 hours ago
The role

We're hiring a Senior Full-Stack Developer to help take our web games to the next level — building new gameplay, tightening performance, and growing the services behind accounts, scores, and matchmaking.
You'll work across the whole stack: the React front end, the HTML5 canvas game engine, and the Node/Express + SQLite backend that powers it all.

What you'll do

- Design and build new game features and polished, responsive UI in React + TailwindCSS.
- Write and optimize HTML5 Canvas game logic — physics, input, rendering, and a smooth 60 fps loop.
- Build and maintain backend services: REST APIs, authentication, persistence, leaderboards.
- Profile and fix performance bottlenecks across load time and interaction (large lists, render cost, network waterfalls).
- Own features end-to-end — from spec, through implementation and testing, to release.
- Raise the bar on code quality through reviews, sensible architecture, and pragmatic tests.

Tech stack

You don't need every item, but you should be strong in most of it:
- Front end: React 18 (hooks, context), Vite, TailwindCSS, modern JavaScript (ES2022+)
- Game/graphics: HTML5 Canvas 2D, `requestAnimationFrame` game loops, basic 2D physics
- Back end: Node.js, Express, REST API design
- Data & auth: SQLite (or similar), password hashing/sessions, secure auth flows
- Tooling: Git, npm, browser dev tools / profiling

What we're looking for

- 5+ years building production web applications, with real front-end depth.
- Fluency in React and modern JavaScript; you understand rendering, state, and re-render cost.
- Experience building and consuming HTTP APIs and working with a relational store.
- A track record of diagnosing performance problems with data, not guesswork.
- Care for UX and visual polish — you notice jank and fix it.
- Clear written communication and the self-direction to own work in a small team.

Nice to have
- Shipped a game or interactive/animation-heavy app on the web.
- Canvas/WebGL, audio, or real-time (WebSocket) experience.
- Security mindset for auth, sessions, and input validation.
- TypeScript.

What we offer

- [Competitive salary + equity/bonus]
- [Remote-first / flexible hours]
- [Health, learning budget, hardware, PTO — fill in]
- Small team, high ownership, real players using what you ship.

Take-home assignment

Strong candidates are invited to a paid / time-boxed take-home (~[3–4] hours)
built on a slimmed-down version of our real Moto Stunt Riders codebase
(React + Vite + Tailwind on the front end; Node/Express + SQLite on the back end).

You'll receive the repository with a short TASK.md. Typical assignments include:
1. Performance — The garage screen renders thousands of bikes and the search / sort / favorite interactions lag. Find *why* (measure, don't guess) and make it smooth without changing behavior.
2. Feature — Add a self-contained feature end-to-end (e.g. a new gameplay mechanic, an API endpoint + UI, or an auth improvement) that fits the existing architecture.

We evaluate:

- Correctness & UX — does it work, and does it feel good to use?
- Problem-solving — for perf tasks, did you *measure* the real bottleneck?
- Code quality — clear, consistent with the codebase, appropriately tested.
- Communication — a short write-up of your approach, trade-offs, and what you'd
do next with more time. A before/after measurement (numbers or a short clip) is a plus.

Please keep changes scoped to the task, and don't rewrite unrelated code.

How to apply

Send your CV / portfolio and a few lines on a web project you're proud of. GitHub profile is accepted.
We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and don't discriminate on any protected characteristic.
java javascript html5 node.js game development sqlite rest api vite
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