Staff Software Engineer

Collectors Universe, Inc.; California; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Collectors Universe, Inc. is seeking a senior backend engineer to own the API and data domain end to end, working across Java and Python services, AWS, Kubernetes, and both relational and NoSQL stores to serve internal and external customers.

You will lead architecture for scalable, autonomous development, define API standards, and pilot new API initiatives while ensuring reliability and security across cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years engineering experience with leadership of multi-engineer projects.
• Expert-level backend engineering in Java and Python with API surfaces and distributed systems.
• Strong API design knowledge: REST, and possibly GraphQL or gRPC, with versioning and auth.
• Deep database and data-modeling experience: PostgreSQL and NoSQL.
• Experience with data, pipelines, and API gateways (Kong) in production.
• Familiar with AWS, Kubernetes, and infrastructure-as-code (CDK/ Terraform).
• Strong observability and incident-response practices (Datadog).
• AI-first tooling experience and maturity in security/verification of AI-generated code.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of the API and data domain end to end across services.
• Architect for scalable, autonomous development with clear data ownership and clean boundaries.
• Define API standards: design, versioning, authentication, rate limiting, docs for internal/external use.
• Pilot API initiatives and consolidate gateways with consistent rate limiting and bot protection.
• Design data models and pipelines for fast, accurate collectibles data access across lines.
• Unify spec databases across PSA, Beckett, SGC and expose results via a spec API.
• Set reliability standards: testing strategy, observability, performance, incident response.
• Lead multi-quarter delivery and coordinate engineers and stakeholders.

Skills

Java

Python

API design

Distributed systems

AWS

Kubernetes

PostgreSQL

DynamoDB

REST APIs

GraphQL

Tools

Kong

Datadog

React

CDK

Terraform

Brighthire

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.

What You’ll Do

• Own the architecture of the API and data domain end to end: Hold expertise across the entirety of the team's products and services, including Java and Python services, the distributed event-driven systems they run on in AWS and Kubernetes, their relational and NoSQL data stores, and the consumers they serve.
• Architect for iterative, autonomous development and future scaling through clean service boundaries, contract design, clear data ownership, and well-sequenced migration paths.
• Set the API strategy: Define standards for API design, versioning, authentication, rate limiting, and documentation so that internal teams and external partners can build against our APIs with confidence.
• Near-term work includes piloting a certificate lookup API with a business admin console, launching a self-service developer portal, migrating legacy public API users, and consolidating API gateways under consistent rate limiting and bot protection.
• Build and evolve the collectibles data platform: Design the data models, pipelines, and access patterns that keep collectibles data accurate, consistent, and fast to query across product lines.
• Near-term work includes enriching spec data across all categories with measurable quality scoring, unifying overlapping spec databases across PSA, Beckett, and SGC, and exposing the result through a spec API.
• Set the bar for reliability and quality: Establish standards for testing strategy, observability, performance, and incident response, then use operational data to drive stability and latency improvements.
• Lead complex, multi-quarter delivery: Lead projects of moderate-to-significant scope spanning 1-2 quarters, coordinating engineers, stakeholders, and dependencies to a predictable landing.
• Plan using an explicit value-vs-cost framework so urgency and prioritization are easily understood by the team and stakeholders alike, and surface blockers and delays to the right people before they become surprises.
• Drive cross-functional execution: Translate business requirements into technical solutions and partner across Product, Marketplace, Grading, Vault, Data, and platform teams.
• Build a working model of adjacent systems, including CRM, identity, and data/ETL, so you catch cross-system risks early.
• Multiply the engineers around you: Mentor senior and mid-level engineers through design reviews, pairing, and feedback.
• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and documentation within your team and with business stakeholders by initiating and facilitating meaningful discussions around complex issues.
• Lead an AI-first approach to building: Establish standards and guardrails for AI coding tools, including code review expectations, testing requirements, and security and IP hygiene.
• Identify where AI agents accelerate the team's work, and raise the org’s collective AI fluency by sharing proven workflows and coaching engineers on when the tooling helps and when it misleads.

Who You Are

8+ years engineering experience, including demonstrated technical leadership of multi-engineer, multi-quarter projects. You have a track record of designing, shipping, and scaling products with measurable business impact at a high-growth company or a scaled consumer platform. Expert-level backend engineering in Java and Python. You have strong proficiency in Java (Spring Boot) and Python, own complex API surfaces, async patterns, and data consistency in distributed systems, and are recognized by peers and leaders as an authority in your domain. API design depth. You have designed and operated REST (and, where relevant, GraphQL or gRPC) APIs at scale, with strong judgment on versioning, backward compatibility, authentication, and developer experience. Deep database and data-modeling expertise, both relational (e.g. PostgreSQL) and NoSQL (e.g. DynamoDB). Schema design, migrations, query performance, and the realities of shared-database coupling between services. Experience with data ingestion and enrichment pipelines, and with API gateways such as Kong, is a plus. Strong distributed-systems fundamentals. Service boundaries, contract design, Kafka-based event-driven architectures, messaging, idempotency, and failure handling, designed and operated in production. Production AWS and Kubernetes depth, with infrastructure-as-code fluency (CDK and/or Terraform). Full-stack awareness. Enough hands-on experience with modern frontend frameworks such as React to design and review at every layer, even where others do the bulk of the implementation. A track record of raising engineering standards across testing strategy, observability, documentation, and incident response. Observability-first mindset. You instrument what you ship using Datadog or similar tools, build dashboards and alerting, and use distributed tracing to debug production issues. AI-first engineer. Daily fluency with AI coding assistants and agentic tools (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor, or similar), experience integrating them into team workflows (CI, code review, documentation), and mature judgment about verification, security, and the limits of AI-generated code. Familiar with Agile/Scrum methodologies. You’re comfortable working in iterative delivery cycles, participating in sprint planning, and adapting quickly to changing priorities. Influential communicator. Excellent written and verbal communication with technical and business audiences alike, with sharp analytical and troubleshooting instincts. You align engineers, product partners, and stakeholders without direct authority, make crisp calls, and bring people with you. Bias for ownership. You have an extreme ownership mindset and will wear any hat required to get the job done. You thrive in a fast-moving, self-directed environment: you set the bar, hold it, and take full accountability for outcomes. Passion for collecting is a plus.

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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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For New York Residents: In connection with hiring, Collectors Universe, Inc. uses an automated employment decision tool (Brighthire) to assist in evaluating candidates. Collectors Universe, Inc. began using this tool in October 2026. In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, a summary of the most recent independent bias audit of this tool is available from Brighthire . To request information about the type of data collected, its source, and our data retention policy, contact [e-mail].

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