Senior/Staff Backend Engineer – Real‑Money Sports Picks

About the role

Sleeper is hiring senior and staff backend engineers for its real‑money product, Picks, which combines daily fantasy sports and prediction markets. You will own end‑to‑end systems that handle real‑time pricing, entry surges, settlement, and compliance for millions of users.

Key responsibilities

• Design, build, and own core Picks systems including contest lifecycle, pricing, settlement, wallet, and compliance.
• Ensure real‑money correctness through audit‑able reconciliation and settlement logic.
• Handle real‑time scale challenges such as continuously moving prices and high entry volumes before games.
• Partner with risk and trading teams on exposure management and internal tooling.
• Integrate third‑party projection, market, and payment providers, designing for failure scenarios.

Required profile

• 5+ years of backend engineering experience (8+ for staff level) with a track record of owning large‑scale architecture.
• Experience building consumer products used by millions and operating them in production.
• Background in systems where errors cost money (payments, trading, marketplaces, real‑money gaming).
• Deep knowledge of distributed systems, data modeling, caching, queues, and real‑time concurrency.
• Passion for sports and familiarity with DFS, sportsbooks, or prediction markets.

Required skills

• Proficiency in at least one backend language such as Elixir, Go, Java, Python, Rust, or Node.js.
• Strong expertise in distributed systems design and implementation.

What we offer

• Competitive salary ranging from $180,000 to $300,000 per year plus equity.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision insurance and 401(k) plan.
• Generous PTO and hybrid work policy (San Francisco Bay Area or New York City).
• Opportunities for rapid career growth within a small, impact‑focused team.