Principal Engineer

Smarkets is an exchange platform for betting on sports and politics. We operate two main consumer products - the Smarkets exchange and SBK sportsbook app - in the UK, US and other global markets which have handled £29 billion in traded volume since 2010. Our goal is to fix the sports betting industry by creating a transparent platform that offers the best value for users, with not only the best odds but also the latest technology, alongside an amazing customer experience.

Building all our technology in house comes with a lot of exciting technical challenges to work on - designing and operating a real-time distributed exchange system that runs 24/7 all year long; creating and pricing 100s of thousands of contracts concurrently - from football and horse racing to politics and current events; developing slick and optimized mobile and web clients empowering users get the best betting experience from our products.

Join our team and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our betting trading technology landscape.

The Role

We are looking for an experienced Principal Engineer to lead our engineering efforts in a senior individual contributor role in our business, reporting directly to the Head of Engineering. You’ll be the most senior technical IC in the company and pivotal in shaping our tech stack and driving innovation across teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a senior technical leader, providing thought leadership and hands-on support for high-impact projects.
• Partner with the Head of Engineering to consolidate tech stack and streamline development processes.
• Collaborate with frontend and backend teams to design scalable, reliable microservices architecture using Rust, Python, and Typescript.
• Optimize service latency and performance across PostgreSQL, Redis, and Kafka-driven architectures.
• Support implementation of CI/CD, monitoring, and alerting solutions to ensure system health and performance.
• Drive best practices in engineering and contribute to a culture of collaboration, learning, and innovation.
• Influence and support the development of a best-in-class engineering culture.
• Identify opportunities for innovation and optimization to drive business value and maintain a competitive edge.

About You

• 8+ years in software development, 1+ years as a Principal Engineer or Staff Engineer, and 4+ years in design and architecture of consumer-facing tech.
• Proven ability to set technical direction and standards.
• Expertise across Backend, Frontend, DevOps, Data, and Mobile Engineering.
• Strong experience with AWS, scalable solutions, and infrastructure as code tools like Terraform.
• Proficiency in Python, C++, Rust, Javascript, Typescript, Node.js, and familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and orchestration.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, communication abilities, and a bias towards action.
• Passionate about delivering high-quality products and leading technical challenges with enthusiasm.

Technologies we use

• Languages: Python, Rust, C++, Erlang, JavaScript, TypeScript
• Frontend: React
• Cloud: AWS, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes
• Databases: PostgreSQL, S3, Redshift, Redis, ElasticSearch, GraphQL
• Messaging: Kafka, RabbitMQ
• CI/CD and DevOps: GitLab, Jenkins, Ansible
• Monitoring: Sentry, Grafana, Prometheus

Values

• Push to win
• Make others better
• Give a shit
• Be a pro
• Bring the energy

Our values are at the heart of everything that we do. We believe these are the fundamentals to ensure we are delivering what’s expected of us in the best way possible for ourselves and for those around us.

Benefits

We offer a competitive salary package and benefits, along with a dynamic and collaborative work environment. Your work with us will make an impact and your voice will be heard. We are a diverse team with a strong work ethic and plenty of hunger to win. We have designed our benefits offering around Health, Wealth, Lifestyle and Development.

These include:

• Stock options which vests over 4 years
• Pension scheme - An impressive pension scheme via Aviva. We will match 6% if you choose the same
• Health insurance
• Fresh fruit and snacks provided in the office everyday! (tea, coffee, soft drinks also included)
• We’re a member of a cycle to work scheme
• We want to continue to invest in all our employees and do so by providing a £1000 yearly education budget that can be used on courses, conferences, books or training
• 25 days paid holiday + bank holidays to enjoy - you have the choice to carry over 5 days to the next year!
• Flexible working - we want to provide a hybrid model approach to working and provide you with 2 days a week working from home.
• 20 days a year of globally working - we provide the ability to work from anywhere in the world for up to 20 days a year.
• We will provide you lunch everyday in the office - you don’t need to worry about feeding your belly as we have it sorted with top quality food served by our in-house Chef Alex!

What happens next​

We aim to have a simple and speedy hiring process and we want to make sure that we are right for you as much as the other way around.

• CV application review - We will review it as quickly as possible
• Let’s chat - Quick chat with our team about your experience and the role
• Hiring Manager chat - Meet your potential Line Manager
• Technical Interview - System Design Fullstack Interview
• Technical Interview - System Design Infrastructure & Tooling Interview
• In Office Interview - Lunch with other colleagues in the team