Senior Software Engineer - Grading Operations

Collectors Holdings, Inc.; Santa Ana, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Collectors, the leading creator of innovative technology for collectors worldwide, is hiring a Senior Software Engineer for Grading Operations in Santa Ana, CA. You will build and operate internal software that runs grading and authentication, spanning back-end services, APIs, and event-driven pipelines to support a high-volume physical operation.

You’ll work across containerized .NET, serverless Python, and frontend components, design scalable data models, and collaborate with Product and

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience building production applications.
• Strong backend focus with some frontend delivery experience.
• Experience designing RESTful APIs and service integrations.

Responsibilities

• Build backend services, APIs, and data models powering internal applications.
• Design event-driven and asynchronous systems for high-volume data flows.
• Contribute to frontend development using JavaScript, TypeScript, and Vue.js to deliver features end to end.
• Collaborate with Product, Tech, and Operations to translate requirements into clean designs.
• Troubleshoot data, integration, service, and UI issues across a large codebase.
• Share in an on-call rotation supporting the services the team owns.
• Contribute to technical documentation to improve maintainability and team velocity.
• Raise the bar on system design, code quality, observability, and engineering best practices across the team.

Skills

Backend development

C# and .NET

RESTful APIs

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Vue.js

JavaScript/HTML/CSS

Event-driven architectures

AI tooling

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

CloudFormation

PostgreSQL

Job description

Collectors is the leading creator of innovative technology that provides value-added services for collectors worldwide. We grade, authenticate, vault, and sell millions of record-setting collectibles, all while modernizing and digitalizing the process to further our mission of helping collectors pursue their passions. We’re always on the lookout for talented people to join our growing team. Our services span collectible trading cards, autographs, comic books, coins, video games, event tickets, and memorabilia. Our subsidiaries include PSA, PCGS, Beckett, SGC, and Card Ladder. Since our founding in 1986, we have graded and authenticated millions of items. We employ more than 3000 people across our headquarters in Santa Ana, California and offices in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Germany, the UK, and France.

As part of our interview process, we request that candidates have their cameras on during video interviews. This helps foster meaningful conversation and allows us to create an experience that closely resembles our standard working environment. Certain interview steps may take place by phone. For remote roles, and at our discretion, candidates may be asked to participate in an on-site interview as part of the final stages of the process. We understand there may be occasional circumstances requiring accommodation and are happy to discuss them as needed. Your recruiter will be able to clarify expectations and answer any questions you have.

Senior Software Engineer, Grading Operations

About the Role

The Grading Operations software engineering team builds and operates the internal software that runs our grading and authentication business. That means the applications our operations teams work in every day, the services and APIs behind them, the scheduled and event-driven processes that move items through the grading lifecycle, and the integrations that connect all of it to adjacent systems across the platform. Volume climbs every year and the systems have kept up. As our grading operations reach more markets, keeping pace means solving for distance as well as volume. We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who can help build and evolve the services, event-driven pipelines, and internal applications that keep a high-volume physical operation running. This role is especially well-suited for an engineer who is strongest on the backend, but comfortable working in the frontend to take features all the way to the people who use them.

What You’ll Do

• Use AI tooling, with a preference for Claude, routinely across software design, architecture, and implementation, while owning the quality of what ships
• Build backend services, APIs, and data models that power the internal applications our grading and authentication teams rely on every day
• Work across a mix of architectures, from a large containerized .NET application to smaller serverless APIs and Python background processing jobs, and help decide which is the right fit for new work
• Design and implement event-driven and asynchronous systems that keep operational data flowing reliably at high volume
• Contribute to frontend application development using JavaScript, TypeScript, and Vue.js to deliver features end to end
• Collaborate with Product, Tech, and Operations teams to translate business requirements into clean technical designs across both backend and frontend systems
• Troubleshoot data, integration, service, and UI issues across a large, long-lived codebase
• Share in an on-call rotation supporting the services the team owns
• Contribute to technical documentation to improve maintainability, knowledge sharing, and team velocity
• Help raise the bar on system design, code quality, observability, and engineering best practices across the team

Who You Are

• 5+ years of software engineering experience building production applications, with substantial experience in backend systems and some hands-on experience delivering frontend work
• 3+ years experience / strong proficiency in C# and .NET
• Routine use of AI tooling as part of how you design and build software, with the judgment to review and take responsibility for what it produces
• Experience designing and building RESTful APIs and service integrations
• Sound judgment about where code belongs, including how to draw module boundaries inside a large application and when a capability warrants its own service
• Experience writing and maintaining automated tests for services running in production
• Strong fundamentals working with relational databases and data modeling (e.g. SQL Server, PostgreSQL)
• Hands-on experience building and operating production services in the cloud, including container orchestration (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes, ECS), serverless compute behind an API gateway, and managed messaging and data stores
• Comfortable working in a modern frontend codebase, with hands-on experience in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and a component-based framework
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform, CloudFormation), and monitoring and observability tooling (e.g. CloudWatch, Datadog)
• Strong communication and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to document what you build
• Experience turning complex requirements from Product and Operations partners into clean, extensible systems
• Familiar with Agile/Scrum methodologies
• Nice to Have Experience designing asynchronous, event-driven, and distributed systems
• Experience with any of AWS, Python (including test frameworks such as pytest or unittest), Apache Kafka, DynamoDB, or Vue.js
• Experience partnering closely with Product, and comfort working directly with the operations and business teams who use what you build
• Experience making high-volume workflows faster, in the interface or behind it, where shaving seconds off a repeated task adds up across thousands of items

Collectors uses e-Verify to validate your ability to work legally in the United States.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, national origin, gender, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or parental status, disability, veteran status, or other class protected by applicable law.

We believe that a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills will better service the diverse community of collectors we support.

If you require an accommodation to apply or interview with us due to a disability or special need, please email [e-mail]

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