Back to jobs

Staff Backend Engineer

Los Angeles, CA, United States

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. 

About the Team

Fanatics Collect is a technology company dedicated to revolutionizing the world of collectibles. Every single day our team of experienced product leaders, creative thinkers, and operators obsesses over how to create the ultimate collector experience - from developing the most fun and entertaining live shopping experience with Fanatics Live, to building the most trusted and dynamic collector focused marketplace with PWCC (acquired in May 2023).

We have the unique advantage of being backed by Fanatics - the world’s largest sports merchandiser, with more than 900 global sports relationships, 90+ million reachable fans, and exclusive licensing deals with the MLB, NFL, and NBA among many others - but we’re a small, nimble, ambitious team building products from the ground up. 

If you're passionate about building world class products and share our love for sports fans and collectors, Fanatics Collect offers an exciting opportunity to be part of a dynamic team creating the future of collecting.

 

Role Summary

FanaticsCollect.com is on a mission to build the ultimate digital collectibles platform for sports and entertainment fans worldwide. As we embark on our next-generation backend rewrite, we’re looking for a seasoned Staff Backend Engineer to join our cross-functional team. You’ll work hand-in-hand with frontend and DevOps engineers to design, develop, and deploy scalable services that power new marketplace features, real-time experiences, and data-driven insights.

 

What You’ll Do

  • Collaborate Closely
    • Partner with frontend engineers to define and expose clean, performant APIs and data contracts.
    • Work with DevOps/SRE to design robust CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, monitoring, and alerting.
  • Architect & Build
    • Lead the design and implementation of microservices, event-driven workflows, and data pipelines.
    • Ensure high availability, scalability, and security for core backend systems.
  • Drive Technical Excellence
    • Establish best practices for code quality, testing, performance tuning, and documentation.
    • Conduct architecture reviews, mentor peers, and promote continuous improvement.
  • Own Key Projects
    • Spearhead major initiatives—from feature conception through production rollout—across payments, inventory, search, and real-time notification services.
    • Identify technical risks, propose solutions, and coordinate cross-team deliveries.
  • Foster Learning & Innovation
    • Stay current on emerging backend technologies, cloud services, and industry trends.
    • Lead brown-bag sessions, hackathons, or tech talks to share knowledge across teams.

 

What We’re Looking For

  • Education
    • Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field required
  • Experience & Expertise
    • 5+ years building backend services in high-traffic, distributed environments.
    • Deep knowledge of at least one major backend language (e.g., Java, Go, Python, Node.js) and its ecosystem.
    • Solid understanding of microservices, REST/GraphQL, message queues (Kafka/RabbitMQ), and relational/NoSQL databases.
    • Experience in AWS/GCP.
  • DevOps Mindset
    • Hands-on with containerization (Docker), orchestration (Kubernetes), and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation).
    • Familiarity with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CircleCI) and monitoring/logging stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
  • Collaboration & Communication
    • Proven ability to work seamlessly with frontend, design, QA, and DevOps teams.
    • Strong verbal and written communication; experience running design discussions and writing technical specs.
  • Leadership & Mentorship
    • Track record of guiding and growing other engineers—pair programming, code reviews, career coaching.
    • Ability to influence technical direction and drive consensus in a fast-paced environmen

 

 

Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don’t fall victim to fraud.  Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants. Feel free to ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of communication for interview, and ensure your communication is coming from a Fanatics email address (including @collectfanatics.com).  For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers

The salary range represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. When determining base pay as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

Salary Range

$1 - $1 USD

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Fanatics Collectibles? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Phone
Resume/CV

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf


Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Fanatics Collectibles’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.