Senior Backend Engineer - Quantitative Sports

Hard Rock Digital; United States; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid/Remote work

Job summary

Hard Rock Digital is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Quantitative Sports team. You will own major architectural decisions for an in-house pricing engine powering live odds for millions of users, collaborating with quantitative analysts to shape a high‑throughput backend.

This high‑impact role offers significant autonomy in fast‑moving environments and the chance to tackle real-time engineering challenges across ingestion pipelines, testing, monitoring, and platform evolution.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend engineering experience.
• Production-grade Python expertise.
• Experience with low-latency, real-time, or high-throughput systems.
• Background in multi-feed ingestion architectures.
• Strong understanding of microservices and distributed systems.
• Experience deploying and operating on AWS.
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL and MySQL databases.
• Experience with Snowflake and ClickHouse analytical stores.
• Knowledge of Kafka and RabbitMQ messaging systems.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build backend services that operate reliably under intense data and user load.
• Reduce system latency and optimize real-time performance across the pricing pipeline.
• Collaborate with quantitative developers to integrate models and pricing logic.
• Design and maintain ingestion pipelines for multiple live data feeds.
• Implement robust testing and monitoring for system resilience.
• Build internal tools supporting trading, operations, and analytics teams.
• Contribute to technical strategy and long-term platform evolution.
• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and engineering excellence.

Skills

Backend engineering

Python

Low-latency systems

Real-time processing

Multi-feed ingestion

Microservices

AWS

Communication

Tools

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Snowflake

ClickHouse

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Job description

Hard Rock Digital is a team focused on becoming the best online sportsbook, casino, and social casino company in the world. We're building a team that resonates passion for learning, operating, and building new products and technologies for millions of consumers. We care about each customer's interaction, experience, behavior, and insight and strive to ensure we're always acting authentically.

Rooted in the kindred spirits of Hard Rock and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the new Hard Rock Digital taps a brand known the world over as the leader in gaming, entertainment, and hospitality. We're taking that foundation of success and bringing it to the digital space — ready to join us?

What's the position?

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Quantitative Sports team. We’re building the next generation of our in‑house pricing engine — a low‑latency, high‑throughput system that powers live odds for millions of users. As a Senior Backend Engineer, you’ll own major architectural decisions, partner directly with quantitative analysts, and shape the core backend that drives our sportsbook.

This is a high‑impact role with significant autonomy. If you thrive in fast‑moving environments and love solving complex real‑time engineering challenges, you’ll feel at home here.

What You’ll Do

• Architect and build backend services that operate reliably under intense data and user load
• Reduce system latency and optimize real‑time performance across the pricing pipeline
• Collaborate closely with quantitative developers to integrate models and pricing logic
• Design and maintain ingestion pipelines for multiple live data feeds
• Implement robust testing and monitoring to ensure system resilience
• Build internal tools that support trading, operations, and analytics teams
• Contribute to technical strategy and long‑term platform evolution
• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and engineering excellence

Core Requirements

• 8+ years of backend engineering experience
• Deep proficiency in Python for production systems
• Experience with low‑latency, real‑time, or high‑throughput systems
• Background in multi‑feed ingestion architectures
• Strong understanding of microservices and distributed systems
• Experience deploying and operating systems in AWS
• Familiarity with relational databases (Postgres, MySQL)
• Experience with analytical stores (Snowflake, ClickHouse)
• Strong knowledge of messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ)
• Excellent communication skills and comfort working cross‑functionally

Bonus Points

• Experience with pricing engines, trading algorithms, or live odds generation
• Interest in sports and sport analytics
• Familiarity with game state feeds such-as Radar & Genius
• Prior hands‑on experience in sportsbook platforms is highly desirable

Who you are

• Self-driven and comfortable owning large areas of the system
• Meticulous in your approach to testing, reliability, and performance
• Able to prioritize effectively in a fast‑paced environment
• Excited by complex technical challenges and real‑time systems

What’s In It for You?

We offer our employees more than just competitive compensation. Our team benefits include:

• Competitive pay and benefits.
• A hybrid / remote working environment.
• Startup culture backed by a secure, global brand.

Roster of Uniques

We care deeply about every interaction our customers have with us, and trust and empower our staff to own and drive their experience. Our vision for our business and customers is built on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment where regardless of background or beliefs you feel able to be authentic and bring all your talent into play. We want to celebrate you being you (we are an equal opportunity employer).