Senior Software Engineer, Sportsbook Platform

penninteractive; United States; Remote; USD 145,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Education reimbursement

Conference reimbursement

Career development

Job summary

penninteractive is seeking a senior backend engineer to build and operate scalable real-time APIs for sportsbook and casino experiences. You will own API design, performance tuning, and production operations while collaborating with mobile and web teams to keep features reliable under heavy, bursty traffic.

The role emphasizes leadership, end-to-end ownership, and hands-on use of AI coding agents in day-to-day development, with remote-friendly setup and opportunities to mentor others.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, backend or API systems.
• 2+ years designing APIs used by multiple clients with versioning and backward compatibility.
• Experience building real-time features and operating production services, including on-call and end-to-end releases.
• Strong CS fundamentals: distributed systems, algorithms, data structures, software design.

Responsibilities

• Design, scale, and tune APIs and real-time delivery systems with versioned contracts.
• Plan API changes and migrations with iOS/Android teams.
• Diagnose production bottlenecks, improve monitoring, alerting, and tracing.
• Own features end-to-end, including client changes and cross-boundary debugging.
• Write tests, manage releases and on-call duties, document designs and procedures.
• Mentor engineering work, review AI agent outputs to production standards.

Skills

API design

Distributed systems

Performance analysis

AI coding agents

Technical writing

Tools

GraphQL

Elixir

Kubernetes

Relational databases

Job description

Role overview

Build and operate backend services and real-time APIs that support sportsbook and casino experiences across mobile and web. You'll own work from API design through client behavior, partnering closely with mobile and web engineers to keep features reliable under heavy, bursty traffic. The role also includes production operations, technical leadership, and hands-on use of AI coding agents in day-to-day development.

Responsibilities

• Design, scale, and tune APIs and real-time delivery systems, treating schemas as versioned contracts for released clients.
• Plan compatible API changes and migrations with iOS and Android teams, keeping client models aligned.
• Diagnose production bottlenecks and performance regressions; improve monitoring, alerting, and tracing.
• Own features and fixes end to end, including targeted client changes and debugging across server and app boundaries.
• Write tests, operate services through release cycles and on-call, and document designs and procedures.
• Guide engineering work through proposals, reviews, pairing, and mentorship; use and review AI agent output to production standards.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of software engineering experience, primarily in backend or API systems.
• 2+ years designing and evolving APIs used by multiple clients, including versioning and backward compatibility.
• Experience building real-time features and operating production services, including on-call and end-to-end releases.
• Strong computer science fundamentals, especially distributed systems, algorithms, data structures, and software design.
• Ability to investigate performance across CPU, I/O, memory, and latency using techniques such as tracing and load testing.
• Daily experience building software with AI coding agents, plus the judgment to constrain, test, and review their output.
• Clear technical writing and experience with a server framework; willingness to learn Swift or Kotlin for targeted mobile work.

Nice to have

• Shipped native iOS or Android work; experience with GraphQL, Elixir, or relational databases.
• Kubernetes, container operations, background job systems, or messaging infrastructure.

Benefits and work setup

The listing describes the role as remote and gives an annual base salary range of CAD $145,000-193,000. It also mentions education and conference reimbursement, career development, and opportunities to mentor.