Backend Engineer - Risk & Trading

Summary

Join Sleeper, a rapidly growing sports fan platform, as a Python backend engineer. You will design and implement Python services for real-time risk management and trading operations, building scalable infrastructure for pricing engines and integrating with Elixir services. Responsibilities include architecting distributed systems on GCP, developing monitoring and CI/CD pipelines, and collaborating with data scientists. The ideal candidate possesses 4+ years of backend engineering experience with Python, expertise in distributed systems, and experience with message queues and caching layers. The role requires a pragmatic approach to problem-solving and excellent communication skills. Sleeper offers competitive salary and stock options, comprehensive health insurance, 401k, flexible working hours and remote work options, and opportunities for career advancement.

Requirements

• 4+ years of backend engineering experience with a strong focus on Python (FastAPI, Django, or similar)
• Proven ability to design and operate distributed systems handling high throughput and low latency
• Experience with message queues/streams (Apache Kafka, Google Pub/Sub) and caching layers (Redis)
• Comfortable interacting with Elixir/Erlang or other functional stacks, or eager to learn
• Pragmatic engineer who thinks critically about edge cases and failure modes, especially in financial or real-time systems
• Calm, methodical, and communicative when incidents occur; you thrive under pressure

Responsibilities

• Design & implement Python backend services that power real-time risk management and trading operations
• Build scalable infrastructure for pricing engines, market creation, settlement, and exposure management
• Integrate with our Elixir services via gRPC/REST, Kafka, and Redis to ensure consistency and low-latency performance
• Architect distributed systems on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using Pub/Sub, Cloud Run/Kubernetes, and BigQuery
• Develop robust monitoring, alerting, and CI/CD pipelines to ensure high availability and quick incident response
• Collaborate with data scientists on model deployment and optimize end-to-end latency from pricing to settlement
• Own projects from ideation through production, making thoughtful trade-offs in ambiguous, high-stakes environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior work with ScyllaDB/Cassandra or other wide-column distributed databases
• Familiarity with Rust, Go, or C++ for high-performance components
• Knowledge of risk modeling, market-making algorithms, or sports-betting infrastructure
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, GitLab CI, and infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform)
• Deep understanding of observability: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry
• Experience with Elixir, ErlangVM, or other functional programming languages
• Familiarity with ScyllaDB, Cassandra, or other distributed databases
• Experience in financial systems, market making, or real-money gaming infrastructure
• Knowledge of risk modeling, pricing engines, or real-time alerting systems

Benefits

• Competitive salary and stock options
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k)
• Flexible working hours and remote work options
• Opportunities for career advancement