Sleeper - Staff Software Engineer – Backend
Requirements
• 7+ years of backend software engineering experience, including experience in 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. • Strong proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Python, Node.js, Java), and an understanding of trade-offs between them. • Deep knowledge of databases (both SQL and NoSQL), caching strategies, and message queues (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub). • Comfortable designing and maintaining RESTful and/or graphql APIs, data models, and internal tooling. • Cloud experience (AWS, GCP, or similar), with familiarity with containers (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes a plus). • Strong product mindset—you care about the why, not just the how, and you build with users in mind. • Excellent communication and collaboration skills. You elevate your teammates and enjoy mentoring. • Bonus: Passion for sports, gaming, or building multiplayer or real-time systems.
Responsibilities
• Design and build core backend systems that power Sleeper's games and real-time user experiences—fantasy contests, Sleeper Picks, user profiles, leaderboards, and more. • Architect scalable, distributed systems capable of handling millions of concurrent users with low latency and high availability. • Lead backend initiatives from concept to deployment, ensuring clean interfaces, well-documented services, and resilient infrastructure. • Optimize system performance and proactively address bottlenecks through monitoring, profiling, and capacity planning. • Collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and frontend teams to deliver features that users love. • Mentor engineers, provide thoughtful code reviews, and shape backend engineering best practices and standards. • Drive innovation, technical direction, and team culture as a key engineering voice at the leadership level.
Benefits
• Massive Impact – Your work will touch millions of users and help shape the next generation of sports entertainment. • High Ownership – We trust our engineers to make high-leverage decisions and drive meaningful outcomes. • Startup Agility – Move fast, ship often, and see your work in the hands of users quickly. • Culture-First Team – We’re a team of builders, thinkers, and sports lovers who value humility, collaboration, and having fun along the way. • Competitive salary ($225,000–$300,000/year not inclusive of stock options and benefits) • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance • 401(k) with company matching • Generous PTO and flexible remote work policy • Opportunities for fast career growth in a high-impact role • A small, focused team where your contributions truly matter • Our Hiring Philosophy • Sleeper believes in quality over quantity, and intentionally keeps our team small as a result. In past roles, we found it very hard to make a big impact when companies grow too large in size, which has a detrimental effect on the product and the impact any single individual can have. Our team includes designers, engineers, product experts, and finance & operation focused on one thing — connecting people over sports. We believe in fair and equitable pay. Certain locations in the United States require job postings to include a reasonable estimate of the base salary range and/or a general description of benefits and other compensation applicable to the role.
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