Remote Staff Software Engineer – Backend

Description:

• Sleeper is a rapidly growing platform in the fantasy sports and real-money gaming space, aiming to connect people over sports through games and community.
• The company is looking for a Staff Software Engineer - Backend to scale the core systems behind its fantasy sports and DFS offerings.
• The role involves driving architectural decisions, building critical backend services, and mentoring fellow engineers to support millions of sports fans.
• Responsibilities include designing and building core backend systems, architecting scalable distributed systems, leading backend initiatives, optimizing system performance, collaborating with cross-functional teams, mentoring engineers, and driving innovation and technical direction.

Requirements:

• Candidates must have 7+ years of backend software engineering experience, including staff-level or tech lead roles.
• Proven ability to design and scale distributed systems that serve millions of users in real-time or gaming environments is required.
• Strong proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Python, Node.js, Java) and an understanding of trade-offs between them is necessary.
• Deep knowledge of databases (both SQL and NoSQL), caching strategies, and message queues (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub) is essential.
• Candidates should be comfortable designing and maintaining RESTful and/or GraphQL APIs, data models, and internal tooling.
• Cloud experience (AWS, GCP, or similar) is required, along with familiarity with containers (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes is a plus).
• A strong product mindset is necessary, with a focus on user experience.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills are required, along with a passion for mentoring.
• A bonus would be a passion for sports, gaming, or building multiplayer or real-time systems.

Benefits:

• The position offers a competitive salary ranging from $225,000 to $300,000 per year, not including stock options and benefits.
• Employees will receive equity in the company.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance is provided.
• A 401(k) plan with company matching is available.
• Generous PTO and a flexible remote work policy are included.
• There are opportunities for fast career growth in a high-impact role.
• Employees will be part of a small, focused team where their contributions truly matter.