Software Engineer II - Distributed Systems

Overview

JOB DESCRIPTION

At Fanatics Betting & Gaming (FBG), you’ll join a team that turns raw sports data into rich, real-time product experiences across Sportsbook and Casino. We build the APIs, data pipelines, and service layers behind personalized recommendations, live search, and lightning-fast betting interfaces used by millions of fans.

We treat AI as a standard tool in the developer toolbox (not a novelty). As a Software Engineer II, you’ll apply our team’s AI-assisted development practices (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) to ship faster without sacrificing correctness. You’ll help design and scale backend services that bridge live sports data, internal content systems, and customer-facing applications, working closely with senior engineers, data scientists, and product managers. This role is ideal for someone growing from “solid backend contributor” to “reliable owner of real-time, data-driven services.”

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and deploy scalable backend services and REST/gRPC APIs powering search, live odds, box scores, and event tracking.
• Use AI assistants throughout the SDLC (specs, scaffolding, tests, docs), while validating outputs via checklists, unit/integration tests, and code review.
• Implement production-grade patterns: idempotent handlers, retries with jitter, backpressure, schema evolution, and safe migrations.
• Collaborate with senior engineers to understand data pipelines, dependencies, SLAs/SLOs, and product requirements; break work into measurable increments.
• Participate in on-call rotation; triage, debug, and resolve production issues using tracing, logs, and metrics; write post-incident follow-ups.
• Contribute to architecture discussions, sprint planning, and design docs; propose pragmatic improvements that raise the team’s delivery speed and safety.
• Build observability into everything (RED/USE metrics, tracing, actionable alerts) and instrument latency/error/throughput KPIs.
• Follow our AI-assisted PR (AIPR) process: add an AIPR note, include validation steps, attach tests/benchmarks, and tag the PR for metrics.
• Help maintain prompt snippets and “gotchas” in the team’s AI playbook; surface pitfalls (e.g., over-abstraction, missing edge cases, secret handling).
• Develop domain fluency (sports event hierarchies, feeds, data quality) and how correctness/latency impact user trust and conversion.
• Stay current with backend trends in distributed systems, cloud-native infra, data APIs, and AI-augmented engineering workflows.
• Occasional travel to FBG offices or industry events for collaboration and team-building.

Required Qualifications

• 2–5 years building backend systems or APIs in high-throughput or data-rich environments.
• 2+ years with Kotlin/Spring Boot; familiarity with reactive/non-blocking patterns is a plus.
• Experience with event-driven systems (Kafka or similar) and at least one database (PostgreSQL or MongoDB) plus caching (Redis).
• Solid grasp of microservices design and API fundamentals (REST/gRPC, pagination, auth, rate limiting, idempotency).
• Comfort with observability practices (logs/metrics/traces), CI/CD, automated testing (unit/integration/contract), and Agile workflows.
• Hands-on use of AI coding tools (Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, etc.) to accelerate delivery—able to explain when they helped, when they hurt, and how you verified outputs.
• Security hygiene: secrets handling, PII awareness, and adherence to data-usage rules when using AI tools.
• Clear written and verbal communication in a remote-first environment; collaborative, ownership-oriented mindset.

Preferred Qualifications

• Cloud experience (GCP/AWS) and/or Kubernetes; infrastructure as code familiarity.
• Data-focused services: indexing pipelines, search APIs (OpenSearch/Elasticsearch), data quality checks, or real-time feeds.
• Tooling/data stack exposure: Snowflake, Databricks, protobuf/Avro + Schema Registry, OpenTelemetry, k6/Vegeta for load testing.
• Kotlin experience; protobuf/gRPC familiarity; knowledge of schema migration strategies and blue/green or canary deploys.
• Background in startup-like environments or 0→1 initiatives; comfort iterating quickly with guardrails.
• Interest in sports/gaming, fintech, Generative AI, recommendation systems, or personalization at scale.

AI Workflow

During Interviews, Be Prepared To

• Walk through your current AI-assisted workflow (tools, prompts, settings) and a recent PR where AI saved time.
• Show how you validated AI-generated code (tests, checklists, benchmarks) and caught an edge case or security concern.

The expected salary range for this role is based on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This role is eligible for the Fanatics Betting and Gaming annual bonus program and an equity award. *Salary range is listed in USD; actual salary will vary based on location. *Salary Range: $108,000 - $216,000 per year (actual salary will be determined in part by a successful candidate’s geographic location). In addition to base salary, bonus, and equity, full-time employees are eligible for Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, paid time off, and other benefits like GymPass, Pet Insurance, Family Care Benefits, and more. We’ll also give you $700 to set up your home office! Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

This is a remote position; however, candidates must reside in one of the following states: AL, AZ, GA, IA, IN, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, NE, NH, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI, WV. Alternatively, we are open to a hybrid role based in Denver, CO.

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.