Staff Software Engineer - Fanatics Markets

Fanatics; New York (NY); On-site; USD 181,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics is seeking a Staff Engineer for its Distributed Systems team within Fanatics Markets. You will own the event‑driven infrastructure powering real‑money trading, writing code with Kotlin/Java and Spring Boot, and shaping system design for peak load periods.

You will partner with leaders to align cross‑domain decisions, ensure low latency, and sustain system reliability while scaling the platform for growth. This role is based in New York and involves close collaboration with trading teams.

Qualifications

• 7+ years building scalable, fault‑tolerant distributed systems in production.
• Expert‑level proficiency in Java or Kotlin and Spring Boot, with modern API design (REST, gRPC, Protobuf).
• Deep hands‑on experience with Kafka, including partition strategies and delivery guarantees.
• End‑to‑end domain ownership — designed, built, operated, and improved systems, not just shipped features.
• Strong performance instincts — latency, throughput and data pipeline efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and scale distributed systems using Kotlin, Java, and Spring Boot for a real‑money trading platform.
• Own the development and optimization of high‑throughput event pipelines using Kafka and exactly‑once processing.
• Design and build low‑latency event streams with data integrity and cache coherence under peak load.
• Collaborate with product and engineering leadership to align cross‑domain technical decisions and maintain architecture.
• Diagnose and durably fix production issues in a live trading environment, identifying latency and misfires.
• Identify performance bottlenecks and risks before they impact trading operations.
• Raise engineering standards through design docs and architecture reviews.

Skills

Java

Kotlin

Spring Boot

Kafka

Event-driven

REST

gRPC

Protobuf

Performance

Design docs

Tools

Kafka

Pub/Sub

WebSocket

Protobuf

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.

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.

About The Team

Launched in 2021, Fanatics Betting and Gaming is the online and retail sports betting subsidiary of Fanatics, a global digital sports platform. The Fanatics Sportsbook is available to 95% of the addressable online sports bettor market in the U.S. Fanatics Casino is currently available online in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Fanatics Betting and Gaming operates twenty-two retail sports betting locations, including the only sportsbook inside an NFL stadium at Northwest Stadium. Fanatics Betting and Gaming is headquartered in New York with offices in Denver, Leeds and Dublin.

Fanatics Markets

Fanatics Markets is the real‑money prediction and trading app where you can invest in moments you care about. Built on a secure platform, we let users predict real-world outcomes and trade on events they actually follow - from sports and entertainment to political elections and beyond. Our mission is to redefine how fans engage with the moments and markets that matter most. We’re looking for the right people to help us build the future of prediction markets.

The Opportunity

As a Staff Engineer on our Distributed Systems team, you’ll be at the core of what makes Fanatics Markets work — the event‑driven infrastructure that powers real‑money trading at scale. This is a hands‑on, high‑ownership role on a sprint‑based team, where you’ll work alongside our engineer leaders to build the systems that keep our markets liquid and our book healthy at peak volume. Real money is on the line every time our system quotes a price — the work is technically demanding, commercially consequential, and directly visible in daily P&L snapshots the whole team sees. You won’t be handed a spec. You’ll be expected to understand the trading business well enough to write one, and to care about outcomes beyond just shipping the feature.

• Design, build, and scale distributed systems using Kotlin, Java, and Spring Boot, architecting for the traffic spikes and concurrency demands of a live real‑money trading platform.
• Own the development and optimization of high‑throughput event pipelines using Kafka, including partition strategy, consumer group design, and exactly‑once processing guarantees.
• Design and build systems that process high‑throughput, low‑latency event streams — ensuring data integrity, cache coherence, and sub‑millisecond read paths under peak load.
• Partner with product and engineering leadership to align cross‑domain technical decisions, contributing domain expertise while preserving architectural integrity
• Diagnose and durably fix production issues in a live trading environment, distinguishing pricing latency, strategy misfires, mapping errors, and adverse selection patterns
• Proactively identify performance bottlenecks and technical risk before they affect trading operations
• Raise engineering standards through design docs, code/architecture reviews, and patterns that scale as product expands

Qualifications

• 7+ years building scalable, fault‑tolerant distributed systems in production
• Expert‑level proficiency in Java or Kotlin and Spring Boot, with a strong command of modern API design — REST, gRPC, and Protobuf.
• Deep hands‑on experience with Kafka (or Redpanda/Pub Sub) — including internal mechanics, partition strategies, consumer group rebalancing, and delivery guarantees.
• Deep experience with event‑driven architecture and async messaging — consumer group strategies, partition schemes, delivery guarantees under real production load
• Demonstrated end‑to‑end domain ownership — designed, built, operated, and improved systems, not just shipped features
• Strong performance instincts — latency, throughput, and data pipeline efficiency, with a track record of measuring what matters
• Clear, direct communicator — comfortable writing a design doc, explaining a production failure to a trader, or debating trade‑offs with a principal engineer
• High tolerance for ambiguity and speed — comfortable deploying daily and making good calls while the spec is still being written.

Preferred

• Experience with real‑time delivery systems — WebSocket fan‑out, server‑sent events, or pub/sub at scale.
• Familiarity with financial platforms, real‑time trading systems, or prediction markets.
• Experience in a high‑growth startup environment where ownership is broad and the technical landscape evolves quickly.
• Familiarity with FIX protocol or exchange connectivity patterns.

Depending on the role, your interview and onboarding experience may include in‑person components, such as onsite interviews or Launching into Better: LIVE—a multi‑day cultural immersion in New York City for full‑time, non‑seasonal hires. These sessions are designed to build connection and bring our culture to life, though specific travel and participation requirements will be confirmed based on your role and location. Your recruiter will provide clear guidance at each stage of the process.

For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

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/

Salary Range

$180,500 - $237,500 USD