Staff 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.

We are searching for an experienced Staff Engineer to support our Engineering organization in a horizontal capacity and to assist the Head of Engineering with improving the design and efficiency of our stack. The engineering team is at the heart of everything we do and as such, this is a key hire that will report directly to the Head of Engineering and work as the most senior individual contributor in cross-functional capacity within the tech organization.

What you’ll be responsible for

• Acting as a senior technical leader to the organization, providing technical thought-leadership and hands-on execution and support for high-impact projects.
• Supporting the Head of Engineering in tech stack consolidation efforts as well as streamlining and standardizing the software development processes.
• Collaborating closely with frontend and backend teams to design and build a scalable and reliable large-scale microservices-based software architecture using Rust, Python and Typescript.
• Optimizing service latency and performance across PostgreSQL, Redis and event driven architectures utilizing Kafka.
• Mentoring and coaching engineers at all levels, providing guidance on technical development.
• Establishing and enforcing coding standards, code reviews, and testing practices.
• Implementing automated testing strategies to ensure the reliability and stability of backend services.
• Fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous learning through tech talks, brown bag sessions, and workshops.
• Implementing and driving CI/CD, monitoring, tracing and alerting solutions to ensure system health and performance.
• Acting as an advocate for Engineering best practices within the teams
• Influencing and supporting the development of a best-in-class engineering culture of collaboration, learning, and innovation within the team.
• Identifying opportunities for innovation and optimization to drive business value and competitive advantage.

About you

• 8+ years of experience in software development as an IC, 1+ years of experience as Staff Engineer, and 4+ years of experience with design and architecture in consumer-facing tech
• Proven ability to set technical direction on business impacting projects or set technical standards across engineering teams.
• Deep technical ability with a broad range of skills relevant to Backend, Frontend, DevOps, Data and Mobile Engineering, such as expertise in distributed computing, backend development frameworks, mobile application development platforms and data engineering tools and best practices.
• Extensive experience with cloud technologies, particularly AWS, including designing and implementing scalable solutions
• Strong proficiency in at least one frontend programming language such as Javascript, Typescript, with a deep understanding of Node.JS ecosystem and best practices
• Strong proficiency in at least one backend programming language such as Python, C++ or Rust, with a deep understanding of its ecosystem and best practices
• Hands-on experience with infrastructure as code tools like Terraform for managing cloud resources
• Demonstrated expertise in implementing and maintaining continuous integration and deployment pipelines, ideally using GitLab CI or Jenkins
• Experience with containerization and orchestration using Docker and K8S
• In-depth knowledge of database systems, including both relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) and key value stores (e.g, S3, Redis), and their optimization
• Familiarity with search technologies such as Elasticsearch and query optimization techniques
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to make sound technical decisions in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent communicator in both spoken and written form
• Ability prioritize and manage multiple projects and deadlines efficiently
• A bias towards action, with a keen ability to evaluate and advise on risk and reward of projects and technical decisions
• Cares deeply about the product you are putting in the hands of customers
• Maintains high energy and a contagious enthusiasm for technical challenge

Technologies we use

• Programming Languages:Python, Rust, C++, Erlang, Javascript, Typescript
• Frontend Frameworks:React
• Cloud Services and Infrastructure:AWS, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes (K8S/EKS)
• Databases and Data Layers:PostgreSQL, S3, Redshift, Redis, ElasticSearch, GraphQL
• Message Brokers:Kafka, RabbitMQ
• CI/CD and DevOps Tools:Gitlab, Jenkins, Ansible
• Monitoring and Observability: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 - Live Coding + System Design Interview

• In Office Interview - Experience and Mindset Chat + Lunch with other colleagues in the team