Engineering Manager - Backend

We’re Underdog.

The fastest-growing sports gaming company – ever.

We build innovative games, products, and experiences for American sports fans.

We’re here to shake up the fastest growing industry with bold ideas, custom-built tech, and the drive to win.

Founded in 2020, our team has built four of today’s most widely played fantasy games and launched the Underdog Sportsbook – built entirely in-house with our own technology. That means we control our product, move fast, and create experiences you won’t find anywhere else. 

In just over two years, we’ve reached over a $1.2 billion valuation, with investors like BlackRock, Spark Capital, SV Angel, Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant, and Adam Schefter. And we’re just getting started.

At Underdog, we believe that sports are for everyone. Join us.

About the role and why it's unique:

• Lead engineering to redefine the game. Manage and inspire a team of talented backend engineers focused on delivering innovative experiences that captivate fantasy sports and betting enthusiasts. Guide your team in tackling complex technical challenges while fostering professional growth.
• Design the future of sports entertainment. Shape the development of a cutting-edge platform that provides seamless, engaging, and scalable experiences for millions of sports fans globally.
• Deliver best in class features and performance. Prioritize, execute, and oversee initiatives that drive gameplay innovation, optimize user engagement, and ensure platform reliability at scale.
• Build a winning engineering culture. Cultivate a collaborative, innovative environment that thrives on technical excellence, creativity, and shared passion for delivering impactful products.
• Champion development best practices. Advocate for and implement engineering best practices, ensuring the team aligns with industry standards and maintains a high-quality codebase.
• Collaborate to shape the product vision. Partner closely with product managers and engineering leads to define features, plan delivery, and drive the development process from ideation to launch.

Who you are:

• You have a minimum of one year experience managing a high performing backend or fullstack team responsible for delivering high impact features
• 7+ years of experience building highly scalable, available distributed systems to handle high traffic conditions with low latency
• Experience working with product managers in gathering requirements, investigating technical needs, and creating designs that fit within project timelines
• High level of accountability, bias for action, and a desire to empower individuals on the team to perform at their best
• Excellent communication, analytical, and problem solving skills

Even better if you have…

• Experience leading a team in a remote-first and fast-paced environment
• Experience with regulated industries
• Experience with Ruby on Rails (our backend framework)
• Proficiency working in AWS or other cloud infrastructures like GCP or Azure

Our target starting base salary range for this position is between $190,000 and $215,000, plus target equity. The starting base salary will depend on a number of factors including the candidate’s skills and experience, among other things.

What we can offer you:

• Unlimited PTO (we're extremely flexible with the exception of the first few weeks before & into the NFL season)
• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave
• A $500 home office allowance
• A connected virtual first culture with a highly engaged distributed workforce
• 5% 401k match, FSA, company paid health, dental, vision plan options for employees and dependents

#LI-REMOTE

This position may require sports betting licensure based on certain state regulations.

Underdog is an equal opportunity employer and doesn't discriminate on the basis of creed, race, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability status, or any other defining characteristic.