Engineering Manager, Balance and Ledger - Core

Fanatics; New York (NY); On-site; USD 190,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics Betting & Gaming seeks an Engineering Manager to lead the Balance and Ledger platform, the shared ledger for customer funds, within the CAT domain. You will guide backend engineers (Java, Spring Boot, AWS), shaping architecture, governance, and the engineering culture across a fast-growing team.

This role emphasizes accuracy, auditability, and operational excellence as you migrate wallets to a common platform while partnering with Finance, Legal, and Compliance.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of experience managing software engineering teams in regulated or high-stakes environments.
• Background leading teams or contributing in a Java and AWS ecosystem preferred.
• Experience with ledgers, wallets, balance services, payments, or other financial systems of record is highly desirable.
• Understanding of transactional consistency, idempotency, and data modeling in systems where accuracy cannot be compromised.
• Experience with event-driven architectures and message streaming platforms such as Kafka.
• Experience leading migrations of live, high-traffic systems with minimal customer impact.
• Ability to balance strategic direction with technical depth.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence across Engineering, Product, Finance, Legal, and Compliance.
• Experience working through complex, cross-functional, and regulatory challenges.
• Commitment to operational excellence and to building systems that people can trust.
• Passion for mentoring and developing engineers, and for fostering a culture of accountability, empathy, and innovation.

Responsibilities

• Own ledger and balance services; ensure correctness, auditability, and availability.
• Drive operational excellence: security, reliability, observability, and on-call practices.
• Lead migration of wallets onto shared ledger with minimal downtime; plan reconciliation, cutover, and rollback.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, and Compliance on fund attribution, settlements, and audits.
• Define and execute a roadmap balancing new capabilities, migrations, technical health, and load.
• Deliver scalable software handling high transaction volume without loss or double-counting.
• Review designs and unblock engineers; stay close to technical work.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Java

AWS

Kafka

Job description

About Us

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect, and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans; a global partner network with approximately 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, players associations, teams, colleges, college conferences and retail partners, 2,500 athletes and celebrities, and 200 exclusive athletes; and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail stores. Our more than 22,000 employees are committed to relentlessly enhancing the fan experience and delighting sports fans globally.

Overview

Fanatics Betting & Gaming (FBG) is on a mission to create the best online sportsbook in the industry. We are seeking an Engineering Manager to lead the team that builds the Balance and Ledger platform: the shared ledger and customer-level balance that holds customer funds across Fanatics. This leader will own systems where accuracy matters most, guiding the team through complex and ambiguous problems while ensuring operational excellence, consistent delivery, and long-term impact. The team sits within the Customer, Accounts & Transactions (CAT) domain and works closely with the Payments team. The Engineering Manager plays a central role in shaping the architecture, processes, and engineering culture of the balance platform. You will lead backend engineers (Java, Spring Boot, AWS) who are responsible for the ledger, the rules that decide where each portion of a balance can be used, and the migration of existing wallets onto a shared platform. At FBG, we're revolutionizing sports betting with cutting-edge technology, a customer-first mindset, and a world-class engineering team. You'll have the opportunity to work on complex, high-scale challenges in an exciting and rapidly growing industry, as part of a team that values innovation, integrity, and excellence.

Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Ownership

• Lead an engineering team that owns the ledger and balance services for customer funds, where correctness, auditability, and availability are key.
• Drive operational excellence by setting high standards for security, reliability, observability, and on-call practices.
• Lead the phased migration of existing business wallets onto the shared ledger, including reconciliation, cutover, and rollback planning that avoids customer-visible downtime.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, and Compliance on fund attribution between businesses, settlement, chargebacks, and audit requirements.
• Identify and resolve technical and operational risks before they affect the business.

Team Performance & Delivery

• Build and maintain a high-performing engineering team through hiring, coaching, performance management, and career development.
• Define and execute a roadmap that balances new capabilities, migration work, technical health, and operational load. Plan team capacity honestly, make tradeoffs visible, and hold the team to the commitments it makes.
• Deliver maintainable, scalable software that handles high transaction volume without losing or double-counting a transaction.
• Stay close enough to the technical work to review designs, take part in architectural decisions, and unblock engineers.

Communication, Stakeholder Management & Product Partnership

• Communicate clearly with engineers, Product, Finance, Legal, Compliance, and executive stakeholders.
• Build partnerships with the Payments team and with the teams in other Fanatics businesses that depend on the balance, and agree on ownership boundaries.
• Write and present clear documentation, including roadmaps, vision documents, design reviews, and incident reviews.
• Represent the balance platform's technical perspective in broader company planning.

Navigating Complexity & Ambiguity

• Lead the team through open questions that span engineering, finance, and regulation, using structured and data-informed approaches.
• Bring Product, Legal, Finance, and Engineering viewpoints together to make decisions that hold up over time.
• Provide clarity as requirements change, new businesses onboard, and regulatory expectations evolve.

Travel

• Must be open to occasional travel to Fanatics Betting & Gaming offices and other locations for conferences, events, meetings, and team building activities.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of experience managing software engineering teams, with a track record of delivering secure, scalable systems in regulated or high-stakes environments.
• Background leading teams or contributing in a Java and AWS ecosystem preferred.
• Experience with ledgers, wallets, balance services, payments, or other financial systems of record is highly desirable.
• Understanding of transactional consistency, idempotency, and data modeling in systems where accuracy cannot be compromised.
• Experience with event-driven architectures and message streaming platforms such as Kafka.
• Experience leading migrations of live, high-traffic systems with minimal customer impact.
• Ability to balance strategic direction with technical depth.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence across Engineering, Product, Finance, Legal, and Compliance.
• Experience working through complex, cross-functional, and regulatory challenges.
• Commitment to operational excellence and to building systems that people can trust.
• Passion for mentoring and developing engineers, and for fostering a culture of accountability, empathy, and innovation.

Depending on the role, your interview and onboarding experience may include in-person components, such as onsite interviews or Launching into Better: LIVE—a multi-day cultural immersion in New York City for full-time, non-seasonal hires. These sessions are designed to build connection and bring our culture to life, though specific travel and participation requirements will be confirmed based on your role and location. Your recruiter will provide clear guidance at each stage of the process.

For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

Ranges will change based on country and state of residence, which are reflected in Geographical Zones defined by Fanatics Betting and Gaming. The range incorporates all of our Geographical Compensation Zones and is subject to change as the Zone associated with the actual offer is confirmed. In addition to the base and bonus, full-time employment, and more. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

Salary Range

$190,000 - $237,500 USD

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