Fractional principal engineer.
Distributed backends and data paths that stay operable.
Blocked part-time: week-on / week-off or concentrated bursts, or a focused stint of a few months. Not a full-time embed in your squad. Remote by default; occasional UK on-site is fine.
I'm Lee Hickey. I work through Hidden Bridge as a principal engineer: architecture through implementation, without the ceremony of joining the team.
Independent principal engineer with 30+ years shipping games, engines and distributed systems. I take blocked part-time and fixed-stint contract work through Hidden Bridge, usually Go backends and data paths, sometimes engines and performance. Also building a game on a from-scratch stack.
The through-line is systems a small group can run: durable event paths, embedded analytics, Go services with clear edges. Same instincts show up in engine and performance work when that's the brief.
Building now
All projects →Available for contract work
If you need a principal who can unstick a backend or data path, in blocked weeks or a focused stint, send a brief. I'll say quickly whether I'm a fit.