[All remote jobs](https://jobicy.com/jobs.md)[![Fanatics logo](https://jobicy.com/data/server-nyc0409/galaxy/mercury/2025/08/800c61bf-221.png)](https://jobicy.com/company/fanatics.md)[Fanatics](https://jobicy.com/company/fanatics.md) # Staff Engineer – Backend/Kotlin Review the role, location requirements, compensation details, and application process before deciding whether this opportunity fits your next career move. [Apply for this job](#job-application)[View company](https://jobicy.com/company/fanatics.md)ShareRemote from[USA](https://jobicy.com/job-region/usa.md)SalaryUSD 144k–235k / yrDepartment[Software Engineering](https://jobicy.com/categories/engineering.md)EmploymentFull TimeExperienceSeniorPublished19 Oct 2026Apply before18 Nov 2026Listing views54Application actions2Application toolkit ## Make your next move. Prepare your resume, explore your fit, and draft a cover letter for this opportunity. AI Summary ## The role, at a glance. Fanatics is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to lead the architecture, delivery, and operational excellence of scalable distributed systems powering the Fanatics App. The role combines hands-on Kotlin/Java backend engineering with technical strategy, cross-functional alignment, incident leadership, and mentorship. Core work includes establishing engineering standards, leading complex features from design through production, and improving observability, quality, and delivery practices. The ideal candidate has 7+ years of distributed-systems experience and strong knowledge of event-driven architecture, cloud-native tooling, and Agile delivery. This is a remote US role with occasional travel for company events, meetings, or team building. ## Role DNA A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description. ### Job Complexity 5/5EasyHard ### Pace & Pressure 5/5RelaxedFast-paced ### Autonomy Level 5/5GuidedFull ownership ### Communication Load 5/5IndependentCollaborative AI insightThis is a senior technical leadership position requiring ownership of complex distributed systems, architectural decisions, operational incidents, and engineering standards. The high-growth environment, evolving priorities, and need to influence diverse stakeholders make the role particularly demanding. ## Salary analysis Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles. Estimated job median (per year)Market rate$189,500US market range (per year)$170k–$250k0$275k AI insightThe yearly pay period is inferred from the job context; it was not explicitly stated by the employer. The employer discloses a base salary range of $144,000–$235,000 USD. Although the posting does not explicitly state the cadence, it is inferred as annual based on the compensation level, US location, full-time staff-engineering scope, and standard US professional compensation conventions. The midpoint is $189,500 per year; the estimated US market range for a Staff Backend Engineer is approximately $170,000–$250,000 annually, excluding bonus and equity. ## Core skills Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity. [Kotlin](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Kotlin.md)[Java](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Java.md)[Spring Framework](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Spring%20Framework.md)[Distributed systems](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Distributed%20systems.md)[Backend architecture](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Backend%20architecture.md)[Event-driven architecture](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Event-driven%20architecture.md)[Apache Kafka](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Apache%20Kafka.md)[Amazon SQS](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Amazon%20SQS.md)[Kubernetes](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Kubernetes.md)[Helm](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Helm.md)[Terraform](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Terraform.md)[Observability](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Observability.md)[Domain-driven design](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Domain-driven%20design.md)[Agile delivery](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Agile%20delivery.md)[Technical leadership](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Technical%20leadership.md) Sample interview questionsHow would you design a scalable backend service for a high-traffic live sports experience?I would begin by defining traffic patterns, latency objectives, consistency needs, and failure modes. I would use independently scalable stateless services, caching for hot read paths, asynchronous event processing for noncritical workflows, and resilient APIs with rate limiting, timeouts, retries, and idempotency. I would also define dashboards, tracing, and load-testing criteria before launch. Describe how you have used Kotlin or Java to improve the maintainability of a backend platform. I have used strong domain models, clear module boundaries, dependency inversion, and automated tests to make services easier to evolve. In Kotlin, I favor null safety, sealed types, immutable data structures, and concise abstractions where they improve clarity. I pair these practices with code-review standards and incremental refactoring so improvements are sustainable across the team. How do you approach an incident affecting a critical production service? I first establish impact, assign clear incident roles, and stabilize the service through rollback, traffic controls, feature flags, or capacity changes. I use metrics, logs, and distributed traces to isolate the cause while communicating concise status updates to stakeholders. After recovery, I lead a blameless review focused on corrective actions, monitoring gaps, and prevention. What principles guide your use of Kafka or other messaging systems? I treat events as durable contracts with explicit schemas, ownership, versioning, and observability. Consumers must be idempotent and designed for retries, duplicates, ordering constraints, and dead-letter handling. I choose asynchronous messaging when it improves decoupling and resilience, while avoiding it for flows that truly require immediate synchronous confirmation. How do you influence technical direction across teams when priorities differ? I make trade-offs visible by framing decisions around customer impact, operational risk, delivery cost, and long-term maintainability. I seek input early, document options and assumptions, and propose a practical phased path rather than treating architecture as an all-or-nothing decision. This builds alignment while allowing teams to move forward with measurable outcomes. Opportunity details ## About this role. ### 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. Overview As a Backend Staff Engineer at Fanatics Core, you are a recognized technical leader. You operate both strategically and hands-on while leading ambitious projects, and your solutions set the standard for the team. Your bold decisions balance immediate business needs with long-term technical excellence. Through your leadership, you cultivate a culture of excellence and innovation that leaves a lasting impact on both your immediate team and the broader mobile team. Lastly, you are user-obsessed and know how to drive features from the backend all the way to the frontend. We own the Fanatics App, the mobile app at Fanatics that encompasses elements from all of our different brands and businesses. The Fanatics App brings together Free to Play games, live events, ecommerce, and new product experiences to deliver a best-in-class Sports platform. Fundamentally, we are one team in everything we do, from the user experience to coding and architecture. We aim to deliver on our Customer Promise by delighting our millions of monthly active users. Responsibilities * Drive the development, testing, documentation, and deployment of high-quality, scalable software into production * Develop a comprehensive understanding of the industry, product, and roadmap, leveraging this knowledge to shape team strategy and influence the direction of the organization * Lead the end-to-end technical execution of complex features and systems, from ideation and architecture to deployment and refinement * Define and enforce engineering principles, guidelines, and best practices * Partner closely with product, design, and other stakeholders to make high-impact technical decisions that align with both business goals and long-term scalability * Lead incident resolution as part of the on-call rotation, ensuring swift diagnosis and remediation of critical software issues * Proactively identify and remove roadblocks, occasionally collaborating cross-team collaboration to maintain momentum on complex projects * Conduct and elevate code reviews, sharing expertise to enhance code quality * Steer team planning and design discussions, introducing innovative approaches to solve technical challenges and optimize design patterns * Champion improvements to software quality, testability, operational metrics, and team documentation, setting a higher standard for the organization * Mentor and coach engineers at all levels, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth across the team * Be open to occasional travel to Fanatics offices and other locations for conferences, events, meetings, and team-building activities Required Qualifications * 7+ years of experience building highly scalable, performant and evolvable backend distributed systems; proficiency in Spring with Kotlin and/or Java is a plus. * Demonstrated ability to drive best practices in backend development and mentor others in effective coding and architectural strategies, such as clean code, hexagonal/layered architectures, domain driven design and other design and architectural patterns * Knowledge of observability practices, including logging, monitoring, and tracing in distributed systems. * Expertise in Agile software delivery, with a track record of modeling and driving process improvements across teams, and ability to collaborate cross-functionally across diverse teams within large enterprise environments, driving alignment and shared success. * Excellent communication skills, capable of conveying complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to diverse audiences, including engineers, executives, and non-technical stakeholders. * Team-first mentality, with a willingness to do what it takes to get the job done and a desire to strive for better. * Thrives in a high-growth environment where priorities evolve regularly and decisions are made quickly. Preferred Qualifications * Strong Experience in the sports industry, gaming and content delivery * Highly effective with Kotlin, Java and/or Go * Expertise in messaging technologies such as Kafka or Amazon SQS, with a solid understanding of event-driven architectures. * Comfortable working with Cloud Native and Infrastructure as Code, like Kubernetes, Helm and Terraform * Ability to work in diverse codebases, both legacy and greenfield, in different languages and environments If you possess some of these qualifications but not all of them, we still encourage you to apply! #LI-AC2 Ranges will change based on country and state of residence, which are reflected in Geographical Zones defined by Fanatics Betting and Gaming. The range incorporates all of our Geographical Compensation Zones and is subject to change as the Zone associated with the actual offer is confirmed. In addition to the base and bonus, full-time employment, and more. For information about our benefits, please visit [https://benefitsatfanatics.com/](https://benefitsatfanatics.com/) Salary Range $144,000—$235,000 USD By submitting your application, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our [Candidate Privacy Policy.](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ff494b9931735466ce28d5b/t/69de53bde2c02c25e9c38758/1776178110037/Candidate+Privacy+Policy+April+2026.pdf) Fanatics will never ask candidates for money, banking information, or other sensitive personal information as part of the interview process. If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Fanatics recruiting, please do not respond and report it [here](mailto:recruiting-fraud@fanaticsinc.com). 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