About The Company

Sleeper is a rapidly growing platform dedicated to connecting sports enthusiasts through engaging games and vibrant communities. As one of the leading entities in the fantasy sports and real-money gaming industry, Sleeper is redefining how fans interact with sports by offering a variety of features such as season-long leagues, pick'em contests, and real-time social interactions. The company's innovative approach has positioned it as a trailblazer in sports engagement, backed by prominent Silicon Valley investors including Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. With a focus on delivering fast, reliable, and delightful user experiences, Sleeper is committed to building a future where sports fans can connect, compete, and share their passion seamlessly.

About The Role

We are seeking a highly skilled Staff Software Engineer - Backend to join our dynamic team. In this role, you will be instrumental in scaling and enhancing the core backend systems that power our fantasy sports and Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) offerings. Your responsibilities will include making critical architectural decisions, developing essential backend services, and mentoring fellow engineers to foster a high-performance engineering environment. As a senior technical leader, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to bring innovative features to life—ranging from real-time contest engines and game logic to personalized content and secure payment systems. Your work will directly impact millions of passionate sports fans, helping to shape the future of sports entertainment and engagement at Sleeper.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend software engineering experience, including leadership roles such as staff engineer or technical lead
• Proven expertise in designing and scaling distributed systems capable of supporting millions of concurrent users
• Strong proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Python, Node.js, Java)
• Deep understanding of database systems (SQL and NoSQL), caching strategies, and message queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub)
• Experience designing and maintaining RESTful and/or GraphQL APIs and internal tooling
• Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, or similar), with familiarity with containers (Docker) and orchestration tools (Kubernetes is a plus)
• Strong product mindset focused on user experience and building scalable, reliable systems
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a passion for mentoring and team development
• Bonus: Passion for sports, gaming, or building multiplayer and real-time systems

Responsibilities

• Design and develop core backend systems that support Sleeper’s games, real-time contests, user profiles, leaderboards, and more
• Architect scalable, distributed systems capable of handling millions of users with low latency and high availability
• Lead backend initiatives from concept through deployment, ensuring clean interfaces, well-documented services, and resilient infrastructure
• Optimize system performance by monitoring, profiling, and capacity planning to proactively address bottlenecks
• Collaborate with product, design, and frontend teams to deliver engaging features that enhance user experience
• Mentor engineering team members, conduct thoughtful code reviews, and establish backend engineering best practices
• Drive technical innovation, set strategic direction, and foster a positive team culture as a key engineering voice

Benefits

• Competitive salary ranging from $225,000 to $300,000 per year, complemented by stock options
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
• 401(k) plan with company matching to support your financial future
• Generous paid time off (PTO) and flexible remote work policies
• Opportunities for rapid career advancement in a high-impact environment
• Collaborative, small team where individual contributions are highly valued

Equal Opportunity

Sleeper is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, citizenship status, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected class. We believe in fair and equitable pay and are dedicated to providing accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.