Staff Engineer, Platform Storage

Fanatics Collectibles; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 212,000 - 232,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics Collectibles is seeking an experienced Platform Engineer to drive the storage and messaging strategy for enterprise-grade systems. You will architect multi-tenant middleware with Kafka and Redis, define persistence and replication, and build self-service IaC tooling to empower developers.

You will lead performance governance, perform root-cause analyses of complex incidents, and mentor senior engineers while collaborating with product leaders to align technical roadmaps with business

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or related field; 5+ years in software/platform engineering.
• 5 years building/maintaining internal messaging infrastructure for scalable traffic.
• 5 years using Kafka and multiple messaging technologies.
• 5 years using Python.
• 5 years in cloud-native environments with software compliance workflows.
• 3 years with Terraform and IaC.
• 3 years integrating third-party systems into a unified platform.
• 3 years performing deep root-cause analysis across distributed systems.
• 3 years developing applications in distributed environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead long-term architectural roadmap for enterprise messaging and caching platforms.
• Define data persistence, replication, and global distribution strategies.
• Architect scalable multi-tenant middleware using Kafka and Redis.
• Develop IaC tooling to enable self-service provisioning for developers.
• Establish performance and capacity governance for storage and messaging layers.
• Provide technical mentorship and architectural oversight to the platform team.
• Collaborate with senior leadership and product teams to align roadmaps with business goals.

Skills

Messaging infrastructure

Python

Chaos testing

Incident management

Observability tooling

Distributed systems

Root cause analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kafka

Redis

Terraform

IaC (Infrastructure as Code)

Cloud platforms

Job description

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.

Storage & Messaging Strategy: Lead the long-term architectural roadmap for enterprise-grade messaging and caching platforms. Define the strategy for data persistence, replication, and global distribution to support business-critical applications; Distributed Systems Architecture: Architect high-scale, multi-tenant middleware solutions focusing on Kafka and Redis. Oversee the design of clusters that handle massive throughput while maintaining strict reliability and low-latency requirements; Self-Service Middleware Infrastructure: Design and govern the “Infrastructure as Code” (IaC) and self-service tooling that allows developers to provision and manage messaging and caching resources autonomously without compromising security or performance standards; Performance & Capacity Governance: Establish organizational standards for performance tuning, capacity planning, and resource optimization of storage and messaging layers to ensure cost-effectiveness and system stability; Strategic Developer Enablement: Act as the primary authority for application teams on the integration of distributed middleware. Develop enterprise-wide patterns and libraries for producing/consuming messages and managing cache lifecycles; Advanced Observability & Reliability: Lead the design of comprehensive monitoring and alerting frameworks specifically for middleware health. Implement automated remediation strategies to minimize downtime and reduce Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) for storage-related incidents; Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with senior engineering leadership and product stakeholders to ensure the platform storage roadmap aligns with broader company growth and technical debt reduction goals; Technical Stewardship & Mentorship: Provide high-level technical oversight for the platform team. Act as a role model and mentor to senior engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence through rigorous design reviews and RFC contributions; Technology Innovation: Evaluate emerging trends in distributed storage, streaming, and in-memory data structures. Direct the adoption of new technologies that enhance the scalability and performance of the company’s middleware stack. Up to 10% domestic travel may be required for meetings. Partial telecommuting permitted; on-site at 61 9th Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011 when not telecommuting. Salary: $212,100 - $232,100 per year.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Bachelor’s Degree or U.S. equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, plus 5 years of professional experience as a Software Engineer, Platform Engineer, or any occupation, job title, or position performing observability tooling, developer requirements gathering, chaos testing, and incident management.

Must also have experience in the following:

• 5 years of professional experience building and maintaining internal messaging infrastructure designed to handle traffic at scale;
• 5 years of professional experience utilizing multiple messaging and technologies including Kafka;
• 5 years of professional experience utilizing Python;
• 5 years of professional experience working in a cloud native environment with software compliance workflows;
• 3 years of professional experience utilizing infrastructure as code systems, including Terraform;
• 3 years of professional experience integrating 3rd-party systems into a cohesive development platform;
• 3 years of professional experience performing in-depth root cause analysis of low-level incidents spanning multiple connected systems;
• 3 years of professional experience developing applications in a distributed systems environment.

Partial telecommuting permitted; on-site at 61 9th Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011 when not telecommuting.