Senior Principal Engineer (Kotlin, Java, Kafka)

Fanatics Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 201,000 - 331,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Home office stipend

Remote‑friendly work model

Job summary

Fanatics Markets is seeking a Senior Principal Software Engineer to serve as the technical North Star for its event‑driven architecture. You will shape latency, scalability, and distributed systems design, participating in major technical decisions rather than a pure IC role.

You will set architecture standards, mentor senior engineers, and align technical work with product and business goals, while representing Fanatics Markets externally through talks and open source contributions.

Qualifications

• 15+ years building highly scalable, fault‑tolerant distributed systems.
• Proven architecture standards adopted across engineering orgs.
• Ability to translate deep technical complexity into actionable plans for multiple teams.
• Strong track record elevating engineers and driving delivery.

Responsibilities

• Set long‑term architecture strategy for our event‑driven platform.
• Drive strategically critical initiatives across multiple teams and establish standard patterns.
• Escalation point for complex distributed systems problems.
• Mentor and elevate senior engineers to raise the technical ceiling.
• Own trade‑offs between delivery speed and architectural integrity.
• Define and enforce the Fanatics Standard for patterns, observability, and resilience.
• Audit and simplify the codebase to reduce risk and debt.
• Represent Fanatics Markets externally through talks and open source contributions.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Cross‑functional communication

Tools

Kotlin

Java

Kafka

Redis

Kubernetes

AWS

Postgres

Job description

Senior Principal Engineer, Fanatics Markets

United States (Remote)

Job Description

About Fanatics Markets

Fanatics Markets is the real-money prediction and trading app where you can invest in moments you care about. Built on a secure platform, we let users predict real-world outcomes and trade on events they actually follow - from sports and entertainment to political elections and beyond. Our mission is to redefine how fans engage with the moments and markets that matter most. We're looking for the right people to help us build the future of prediction markets.

Role Overview

We're looking for a Senior Principal Software Engineer to serve as the technical North Star for our event-driven architecture: the person who sets the standard, makes the hard calls, and shapes how we scale for the next several years.

This isn't a heads-down IC role. It's a seat at the table for every major technical decision we make — from how we handle sub-millisecond latency on Kafka/Redis at peak trading volume, to how the entire engineering org thinks about async messaging and distributed systems design.

Responsibilities

• Set the long-term architecture strategy for our event-driven platform — getting ahead of complexity rather than reacting to it, and eliminating risks before they become production problems.
• Drive strategically critical initiatives across multiple teams, establishing the patterns and trade‑off frameworks that become the gold standard across the engineering org.
• Serve as the ultimate escalation point for the hardest distributed systems problems — the person teams call when they've hit a wall that no one else can break through.
• Mentor and elevate senior engineers, removing bottlenecks and raising the technical ceiling of everyone around you. The measure of success at this level is what the org can build because of you.
• Own the high‑stakes trade‑offs between immediate delivery and long‑term architectural integrity, advising product and business leaders with clear, confident technical narratives.
• Define and enforce the "Fanatics Standard" for how we build, operate, and scale — from coding patterns and observability practices to incident response and platform resilience.
• Proactively audit and simplify the codebase, resolving architectural deficiencies and technical debt before they compound into systemic risk.
• Represent Fanatics Markets externally through conference talks, technical writing, and open source contributions — bringing the outside world in and taking what we're building out to the broader engineering community.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years building highly scalable, fault‑tolerant distributed systems
• Deep hands‑on expertise with Kotlin, Java, Kafka, Redis, Kubernetes, AWS, and Postgres
• A track record of defining architecture standards adopted across engineering orgs — not just teams
• The ability to break down complex, ambiguous system problems into actionable strategies for multiple teams simultaneously
• Proven experience translating deep technical complexity into clear narratives for engineers, product leaders, and non‑technical executives alike
• Strong instincts for production triage — you've been the person who stabilizes a distributed system under fire
• A history of elevating the engineers around you, not just delivering individually

Preferred

• 7+ years designing platforms at the intersection of high throughput, low latency, and cost efficiency
• Experience in a startup or high‑growth environment where priorities move fast and ownership is broad
• Exposure to prediction markets, real‑time trading systems, or financial infrastructure

Salary Range:$201,400 - $331,250 per year

The base salary for this role is based on job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience and may vary depending on the successful candidate’s geographic location. Remote employees may also be eligible for a home office setup stipend. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

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.

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.

About the Team

Launched in 2021, Fanatics Betting and Gaming is the online and retail sports betting subsidiary of Fanatics, a global digital sports platform. The Fanatics Sportsbook is available to 95% of the addressable online sports bettor market in the U.S. Fanatics Casino is currently available online in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Fanatics Betting and Gaming operates twenty‑two retail sports betting locations, including the only sportsbook inside an NFL stadium at Northwest Stadium. Fanatics Betting and Gaming is headquartered in New York with offices in Denver, Leeds and Dublin.

Job Info

• Locations 95 Morton St, New York, NY, 10014, US (Remote)