Staff Engineer - Backend/Java

Fanatics Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 170,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics Inc. is seeking an experienced Backend Staff Engineer to lead strategic and hands-on backend work for Fanatics Core. You will steer architecture, drive best practices, and mentor teams while delivering scalable systems for a growing digital sports platform.

You will collaborate across product, design, and other stakeholders to align technical decisions with business goals, while shaping the engineering culture and ensuring high-quality, observable software in production.

Qualifications

• 7+ years building scalable backend distributed systems.
• Proficiency in Spring with Kotlin and/or Java is a plus.
• Knowledge of observability practices: logging, monitoring, tracing.
• Expertise in Agile software delivery with cross-team collaboration.
• Excellent communication skills for diverse audiences.
• Team-first mentality and willingness to take on challenges.
• Thrives in a high-growth environment with evolving priorities.

Responsibilities

• Drive development, testing, documentation, and deployment of high-quality scalable software into production.
• Develop understanding of the product and roadmap to shape team strategy and align with goals.
• Lead end-to-end technical execution of complex features and systems from ideation to deployment.
• Define and enforce engineering principles, guidelines, and best practices.
• Collaborate with product, design, and stakeholders on high-impact technical decisions.
• Lead incident resolution as part of on-call rotation and ensure rapid remediation.
• Identify and remove roadblocks; collaborate cross-team to maintain momentum.
• Conduct and elevate code reviews to improve quality.
• Steer planning and design discussions, introducing innovative design approaches.
• Champion improvements to software quality, testability, metrics, and docs.
• Mentor engineers at all levels to foster growth and learning.
• Be open to occasional travel to Fanatics offices for events and meetings.

Skills

Spring with Kotlin/Java

Backend design & architecture

Observability practices

Agile software delivery

Effective communication

Mentoring others

Team-first mindset

High-growth environments

Tools

Kafka

Amazon SQS

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

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

As a Backend Staff Engineer at Fanatics Core, you are a recognized technical leader. You operate both strategically and hands‑on while leading ambitious projects, and your solutions set the standard for the team. Your bold decisions balance immediate business needs with long‑term technical excellence. Through your leadership, you cultivate a culture of excellence and innovation that leaves a lasting impact on both your immediate team and the broader mobile team. Lastly, you are user‑obsessed and know how to drive features from the backend all the way to the frontend.

We own the Fanatics App, the brand‑forward application of Fanatics that encompasses elements of all of our different brands and businesses. The Fanatics App brings together Free to Play games, live events, e‑commerce, and new product experiences to deliver a new Sports platform. Fundamentally, we are one team in everything we do from the user experience to coding and architecture. In order to deliver on our Customer Promise, we use best in class technologies; thus allowing platforms to be as up to date as possible so that we can rapidly deliver and innovate in this exciting new market.

Every time a fan places a bet, earns a reward, or checks out on Fanatics — Fanatics Core made that possible. We build the shared foundations — identity, payments, loyalty, wallet, data, and platform — that power sports betting, e‑commerce, collectibles, and beyond. We supercharge the business by providing products and capabilities so that teams can focus on what matters most: building delightful experiences for the fans.

Responsibilities

• Drive the development, testing, documentation, and deployment of high‑quality, scalable software into production
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of the industry, product, and roadmap, leveraging this knowledge to shape team strategy and influence the direction of the organization
• Lead the end‑to‑end technical execution of complex features and systems, from ideation and architecture to deployment and refinement
• Define and enforce engineering principles, guidelines, and best practices
• Partner closely with product, design, and other stakeholders to make high‑impact technical decisions that align with both business goals and long‑term scalability
• Lead incident resolution as part of the on‑call rotation, ensuring swift diagnosis and remediation of critical software issues
• Proactively identify and remove roadblocks, occasionally collaborating cross‑team collaboration to maintain momentum on complex projects
• Conduct and elevate code reviews, sharing expertise to enhance code quality
• Steer team planning and design discussions, introducing innovative approaches to solve technical challenges and optimize design patterns
• Champion improvements to software quality, testability, operational metrics, and team documentation, setting a higher standard for the organization
• Mentor and coach engineers at all levels, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth across the team
• Be open to occasional travel to Fanatics offices and other locations for conferences, events, meetings, and team‑building activities

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience building highly scalable, performant and evolvable backend distributed systems; proficiency in Spring with Kotlin and/or Java is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to drive best practices in backend development and mentor others in effective coding and architectural strategies, such as clean code, hexagonal/layered architectures, domain driven design and other design and architectural patterns
• Knowledge of observability practices, including logging, monitoring, and tracing in distributed systems.
• Expertise in Agile software delivery, with a track record of modeling and driving process improvements across teams, and ability to collaborate cross‑functionally across diverse teams within large enterprise environments, driving alignment and shared success.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of conveying complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to diverse audiences, including engineers, executives, and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Team‑first mentality, with a willingness to do what it takes to get the job done and a desire to strive for better.
• Thrives in a high‑growth environment where priorities evolve regularly and decisions are made quickly.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong Experience in the sports industry, gaming and content delivery
• Highly effective with Kotlin, Java and/or Go
• Expertise in messaging technologies such as Kafka or Amazon SQS, with a solid understanding of event‑driven architectures.
• Comfortable working with Cloud Native and Infrastructure as Code, like Kubernetes, Helm and Terraform
• Ability to work in diverse codebases, both legacy and greenfield, in different languages and environments

If you possess some of these qualifications but not all of them, we still encourage you to apply!

#LI-AC2

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/

Fanatics will never ask candidates for money, banking information, or other sensitive personal information as part of the interview process. If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Fanatics recruiting, please do not respond and report it here .