Software Engineer Intern, Games

Our mission is to elevate players, partners and general intelligence with the world's best games. Our vision is to create, capture and capitalize 100 billion gameplays. 

We are a passionate team of game lovers dedicated to developing engaging, browser-native games enjoyed by millions of players worldwide. With offices in New York City and Lisbon, we bring creativity, innovation, and fun to everything we do. 

Everything we do is guided by three core values: 

• Fierce Drive - A commitment to excellence 

• Positive Energy - Cultivating a collaborative, uplifting work environment 

• Living Full Lives - Encouraging balance, fulfillment, and well-being 

The Arkadianship Internship Program 

The 2026 Arkadianship is a 6-month immersive internship program starting in May. This program gives interns the opportunity to gain real-world experience, work alongside seasoned professionals in the gaming industry, and contribute to live projects that make a lasting impact. 

Throughout the internship, you will work on meaningful projects, receive mentorship, participate in feedback and development sessions, and gain firsthand insight into how games are built, tested, and launched commercially. You will also have the opportunity to build your professional network and explore career pathways in the tech and gaming industries. Several past interns have transitioned to full-time roles at Arkadium - we view this program as a pipeline for future talent. 

This role follows a hybrid work model. Interns are expected to be in the office a minimum of 3 days per week.

About the Role 

This internship is a learning-focused introduction to professional game engineering within a large-scale web games environment. At Arkadium, our games reach millions of players worldwide - engineering plays a critical role in delivering performant, reliable, and engaging experiences across browsers and devices. 

As a Game Engineering Intern, you will work alongside experienced engineers on real production games, contributing to live titles that power our portfolio. You will be exposed to MVC-based game architectures, large shared codebases, and scalable deployment workflows. Most of the work will involve PixiJS, with potential exposure to Unity and React depending on the workstream. 

Our team is multicultural and international. Collaboration happens primarily in English, and clear communication and openness to feedback are essential. 

What You'll Do 

• Work on live web games used by millions of players 

• Fix bugs across multiple game titles 

• Implement small gameplay features and UI changes 

• Debug gameplay logic, rendering issues, and performance bottlenecks 

• Work with Git: branches, pull requests, and code reviews 

• Learn and follow internal development workflows and tooling to accelerate game development 

• Work on highly configurable games built to support multiple variants and skins 

• Understand how shared systems allow core logic to be reused across different titles 

• Learn how external services are integrated into the game stack 

• Follow our SDLC: pick up tickets, update tasks, and help prepare releases 

• Get exposure to CI/CD pipelines and understand how builds are created and deployed 

• Collaborate daily with QA, Artists, Designers, and Product 

• Participate in standups, sprint planning, and retrospectives 

• Have weekly 1:1s with your manager for feedback and growth discussions 

• Learn how game KPIs work and how engineering decisions impact business metrics 

• Solid understanding of OOP principles: classes, objects, inheritance, and encapsulation 
• Experience with at least one programming language (e.g., C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java) 
• Good Computer Science fundamentals: data structures and algorithms 
• Prior experience with game development (academic, personal, or professional) 
• Understanding of core game architecture concepts: game loop, state management, assets, and components 
• Basic understanding of browser environments 
• Awareness of performance considerations in games 
• Debugging skills: ability to isolate and reproduce issues 
• Basic Git knowledge: branching, committing, pull requests 
• Good organizational skills, autonomy, and ability to research independently 

Nice to Have 

• A game development portfolio (GitHub or playable demos) 

• Knowledge of design patterns 

• Node.js / TypeScript fundamentals 

• React fundamentals: components and state management 

• Experience with HTML5 game development 

• Understanding of MVC architecture 

• Basic knowledge of unit or integration testing 

• Meal allowance through Coverflex
• Coverage by work accident insurance
• Transportation expenses, namely the cost of the monthly Navegante pass
• Summer Fridays - day off last Friday of June, July and August
• Partial Internship subsidy