Job Description
Full job description
Senior React Native Engineer – Football Games & App Development
FootEx Football App
Location: Manchester (Hybrid)
Type: Full-time / Part-time / Contract — flexible for the right person
About FootEx
FootEx is a football app built for the next generation of football fans.
We are building a football-first platform centred around games, competitions, challenges and daily engagement. Our ambition is to become one of the world's leading football apps — giving fans a reason to open the app every day and compete with friends and other football fans.
The app is already live, has thousands of active users, and is experiencing strong organic growth through our social media channels.
We are now looking for a Senior React Native Engineer to join the team and help build the next generation of FootEx's games and gameplay experiences.
This is an early-stage opportunity where you will work directly with the founders and existing development team, have significant ownership over what gets built, and help shape the technical and product direction of the app.
If you love football, enjoy building games and want to have a genuine impact on a rapidly growing product, we'd love to hear from you.
The Role
We are looking for a senior engineer who can take ownership of major areas of the FootEx application, particularly our gameplay and gaming systems.
You will be responsible for designing and developing engaging football games that are:
- Fun and intuitive to play
- Fast and responsive
- Visually polished
- Highly replayable
- Scalable to thousands or potentially millions of users
- Designed to encourage daily engagement and competition
You will work closely with the founders and development team to turn game concepts into fully functioning products within the app.
This isn't a role where you simply receive tickets and build what you're told.
We want someone who can take an idea such as:
"Could we build a football game around this mechanic?"
…and turn it into a well-designed, technically sound and enjoyable experience.
You'll be expected to contribute to how the game works, how it feels to play and how it is technically built.
Key Product Area — Football Games & Gameplay
The main focus of this role will be expanding FootEx's gaming ecosystem.
You will help design and build experiences such as:
Football Trivia & Quiz Games
- Timed football quizzes
- Multiple-choice games
- Daily challenges
- Streak systems
- Difficulty progression
- Scoring systems
- XP and progression
- Leaderboards
- Rewards and achievements
Draft & Squad-Based Games
- Football player selection mechanics
- Draft systems
- Squad building
- Player ratings and attributes
- Competition mechanics
- Scoring algorithms
- Head-to-head gameplay
- League and tournament systems
New Football Games
A major part of the role will be creating entirely new football games and gameplay mechanics.
This could involve:
- Designing game mechanics
- Prototyping new ideas
- Building game loops
- Creating scoring systems
- Developing competitive mechanics
- Building progression systems
- Designing challenges
- Creating daily/weekly competitions
- Experimenting with different gameplay formats
- Analysing user behaviour and improving games based on data
We want FootEx to continually introduce new reasons for users to play.
Gameplay & User Engagement
Beyond individual games, you'll help build the systems that make FootEx feel like a genuine gaming platform.
This could include:
- XP and progression
- Levels
- Coins/tokens and virtual currencies
- Rewards
- Streaks
- Achievements
- Leaderboards
- Daily challenges
- Weekly competitions
- Tournaments
- Player statistics
- Game history
- Personal records
- Multiplayer/competitive mechanics
- Notifications and reminders
- Retention-focused gameplay loops
The goal is to create games that users don't simply play once, but come back to every day.
Technical Requirements
We are looking for someone with strong React Native experience who is comfortable working across the application and backend where required.
EssentialMobile Development
- Strong React Native experience
- Excellent TypeScript knowledge
- Experience building and maintaining production iOS applications
- Strong understanding of mobile performance and optimisation
- Experience publishing and managing apps through App Store Connect
- Experience working with production applications and existing codebases
- Strong understanding of mobile UX and interaction design
- Ability to build polished, responsive interfaces
React / TypeScript
- Strong understanding of React principles
- Strong TypeScript skills
- Experience building complex application interfaces
- Ability to write clean, maintainable and scalable code
- Good understanding of state management and application architecture
Backend / Full-Stack
You don't necessarily need to be a dedicated backend engineer, but you should be comfortable working with backend systems when required.
Experience with:
- APIs
- Authentication
- User accounts
- Databases
- Server-side logic
- Data modelling
- Permissions
- Application architecture
would be highly beneficial.
Particularly Valuable Experience
We would be especially interested in candidates who have experience building:
- Mobile games
- Football games
- Sports games
- Fantasy football products
- Football apps
- Trivia/quiz applications
- Competitive gaming systems
- Leaderboards
- Multiplayer experiences
- Gamification systems
- Consumer mobile applications
Experience with game mechanics, progression systems, scoring systems or player-driven competition would be particularly valuable.
Football Experience
A genuine interest in football is highly desirable.
You don't need to have worked professionally in football, but we'd particularly like to hear from people who have experience or strong knowledge in areas such as:
- Football development
- Football gaming
- Fantasy football
- Football coaching
- Football analytics
- Football media
- Football content
- Football technology
- Sports product development
For this role, understanding football isn't simply a bonus — it can help you understand what makes football fans want to play, compete and return to the app.
If you've spent years playing football games, building fantasy teams, following football statistics or working within the football industry, tell us about it.
Our Current Technology Stack
Our current stack includes:
- React Native / Expo
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- Supabase
- PostgreSQL
You will be joining an existing development team and working within an established production codebase.
There will also be opportunities to influence how the architecture evolves as FootEx grows.
What We Are Looking For
We aren't looking for someone who simply completes development tickets.
We want someone who can:
- Take ownership of major features
- Turn ideas into working products
- Think about the player experience, not just the code
- Make strong technical decisions
- Suggest better ways of building things
- Solve problems independently
- Move quickly without sacrificing quality
- Understand gameplay and user engagement
- Build scalable solutions
- Work closely with founders
- Collaborate with the existing development team
- Take responsibility for the quality of what they build
The ideal candidate will be someone who sees a feature from idea → design → development → testing → launch → improvement.
Why Join FootEx?
- Join an exciting football technology startup at an early stage
- Work directly with the founders
- Help build the core games that define the product
- Build products used by thousands of football fans
- Have significant influence over product and technical decisions
- Work alongside an existing development team
- Opportunity to shape the future direction of FootEx
- Flexible working arrangements
- Potential to grow with the company as FootEx scales
- Potential long-term incentives for exceptional candidates
This is an opportunity to join at a stage where your work can have a visible and measurable impact on the product.
Compensation
We are open to different structures depending on experience:
- Full-time salary
- Part-time position
- Contract arrangement
- Flexible arrangements for the right candidate
Compensation will be competitive and based on experience.
Who Should Apply?
You could be a great fit if you are:
A Senior React Native Engineer
Looking for significantly more ownership and the opportunity to influence a product.
A Full-Stack Engineer
Who enjoys building consumer-facing mobile products and wants to work closer to the product.
A Mobile Games Engineer
Who wants to apply their experience to football and competitive gameplay.
A Football Developer / Technologist
With strong technical skills and a passion for building football products.
A Football Fan & Engineer
Who has spent years playing, following or analysing football and wants to turn that knowledge into great games.
A Startup-Minded Engineer
Who wants to build rather than simply maintain.
If you've built something you're particularly proud of, show us.
We are looking for someone who wants to do more than write code.
We want someone who wants to help build the future of football gaming.
Pay: From £55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Gym membership
- On-site gym
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
- Transport links
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Altrincham WA14 4DR
