Remote opportunity at
FanaticsStaff Engineer - Backend/Kotlin
Fanatics operates a digital sports platform that connects fans globally through commerce, collectibles, betting, and gaming. The company offers licensed gear, trading cards, memorabilia, and digital…
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About This Role
Fanatics operates a digital sports platform that connects fans globally through commerce, collectibles, betting, and gaming. The company offers licensed gear, trading cards, memorabilia, and digital platforms backed by a vast global partner network. Fanatics Core is seeking a Staff Engineer specializing in backend development using Kotlin to join its mobile application team. This role functions as both a technical leader and a hands-on builder for projects that span commerce,…
Job Description
Fanatics operates a digital sports platform that connects fans globally through commerce, collectibles, betting, and gaming. The company offers licensed gear, trading cards, memorabilia, and digital platforms backed by a vast global partner network. Fanatics Core is seeking a Staff Engineer specializing in backend development using Kotlin to join its mobile application team. This role functions as both a technical leader and a hands-on builder for projects that span commerce, live events, free-to-play games, and new product experiences.
The position requires balancing immediate business needs with long-term technical excellence while driving features from backend systems to frontend interfaces. The ideal candidate acts as a strategic technical guide, mentors other engineers, establishes software quality standards, and collaborates with product and design stakeholders. Responsibilities include leading end-to-end technical execution, handling incident resolution via on-call rotations, and engaging in occasional travel for team meetings, conferences, and events.
Responsibilities
- Manage the development, testing, documentation, and production deployment of scalable software solutions
- Formulate team strategy by building a deep understanding of the product, roadmap, and industry landscape
- Direct the end-to-end technical execution of complex systems from design through refinement
- Establish and implement engineering guidelines, principles, and best practices
- Coordinate with product and design teams to make high-impact technical choices
- Handle incident resolution and system diagnostics through the on-call rotation
- Remove technical roadblocks and coordinate cross-team efforts
- Perform code reviews to elevate overall code quality
- Lead planning discussions to introduce innovative approaches and design patterns
- Improve operational metrics, software testability, and documentation
- Mentor engineers across all levels to foster continuous learning
- Travel occasionally for company offices, conferences, meetings, and team-building activities
Requirements
- At least 7 years of experience in building high-performance, scalable backend distributed systems
- Demonstrated ability to drive backend development best practices and mentor others in clean code, domain-driven design, and hexagonal or layered architectures
- Familiarity with observability practices such as monitoring, logging, and tracing in distributed systems
- Experience with Agile software delivery and cross-functional collaboration within enterprise environments
- Effective communication skills for conveying technical concepts to various stakeholders
- Adaptability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with frequently evolving priorities
Qualifications
- Proficiency in Spring with Kotlin and/or Java
- Experience in the sports industry, gaming, and content delivery
- Working knowledge of messaging technologies like Kafka or Amazon SQS for event-driven architectures
- Familiarity with cloud-native technologies and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Kubernetes, Helm, and Terraform
- Experience working across both legacy and greenfield codebases in various languages and environments
Core Skills
Benefits
- Base salary range between USD 144,000 and 235,000 per year, subject to geographic compensation zones
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
What is the location and remote policy for this role?
The job posting indicates that the position is remote, though occasional travel to Fanatics offices, conferences, meetings, and team-building events may be required.
What is the salary range for the Staff Engineer position?
The base salary ranges from USD 144,000 to 235,000 per year, with exact ranges varying based on the candidate's country and state of residence according to the employer's geographical compensation zones.
What level of experience is required?
Candidates must have at least 7 years of experience building highly scalable, performant, and evolvable backend distributed systems.
How do I apply for this position?
You can submit your application directly through the online application process. The employer notes that they will never ask candidates for banking information, money, or other sensitive personal data during recruitment.
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