Staff Software Engineer, Operations

Fanatics Collectibles
Ciudad de México, Mexico
On-site

Who this role is best for

Aimed at senior backend engineers with experience in distributed systems who thrive in collaborative, cross-functional environments.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with strong cross-functional collaboration skills and a history of mentoring peers and driving consensus.
    — “Track record of guiding and growing other engineers—pair programming, code reviews, career coaching.”
  • Individuals with technical leadership experience in API design, event-driven workflows, and infrastructure-as-code.
    — “Lead the design and implementation of microservices, event-driven workflows, and data pipelines.”

Things to consider

  • The role demands a deep understanding of cloud services and containerization tools like Docker and Kubernetes.
    — “Experience in AWS/GCP.”
  • Candidates must be hands-on with CI/CD pipelines and monitoring/logging stacks.
    — “Hands-on with containerization (Docker), orchestration (Kubernetes), and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation).”
  • There is a clear expectation to lead and influence technical direction through hands-on contributions.
    — “Staff Software Engineers are expected to design and implement complex backend systems, influence architectural direction through hands-on technical leadership.”

How to stand out

  • Highlight leadership in cross-team initiatives and technical architecture reviews on your resume.
    — “Conduct architecture reviews, mentor peers, and promote continuous improvement.”
  • Showcase your ability to deliver scalable systems in high-traffic environments with concrete examples.
    — “8+ years building backend services in high-traffic, distributed environments.”
  • Include examples of your work with message queues and REST/GraphQL APIs in your application materials.
    — “Solid understanding of microservices, REST/GraphQL, message queues (Kafka/RabbitMQ), and relational/NoSQL databases.”
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • designed and implemented scalable systems
  • led major initiatives
Typical background
8+ years of backend development experienceexperience in high-traffic environments

Skills & requirements

Required

Backend DevelopmentMicroservicesEvent-driven WorkflowsCloud Services

Preferred

Distributed SystemsPerformance Tuning

Stack & domain

Backend ServicesMicroservicesEvent-driven WorkflowsTeamworkLeadershipOperationsSoftware Engineering

About the role

Original posting from Fanatics Collectibles via Greenhouse

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 Collectibles is the home of sports cards, trading cards, and collectibles for over 100 million fans worldwide. As part of the global Fanatics platform, we're rebuilding how collectors discover, buy, sell, and experience their hobby with world class technology and product experiences.

As part of Fanatics Collectibles’ continued global growth, we are establishing a new technology hub in Mexico City focused on operational excellence, platform scalability, trust, and customer experience. This team partners closely with Customer Experience (CX), Trust & Safety, Fraud Prevention, Payments, and Financial Operations organizations to build scalable systems and operational tooling that support millions of users and transactions globally.

Role Summary

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will lead the design and delivery of scalable operational systems that support Customer Experience, Trust & Safety, Fraud Prevention, and Financial Operations across Fanatics Collectibles’ global platforms.

Key Responsibilities

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.

Lead the design and implementation of microservices, event-driven workflows, and data pipelines.

Ensure high availability, scalability, and security for core backend systems.

Establish best practices for code quality, testing, performance tuning, and documentation.

Conduct architecture reviews, mentor peers, and promote continuous improvement.

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.

Stay current on emerging backend technologies, cloud services, and industry trends.

Lead brown-bag sessions, hackathons, or tech talks to share knowledge across teams.

Basic Qualifications

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field required.

8+ 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.

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).

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.

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.

Code-Writing Contribution

Staff Software Engineers are expected to design and implement complex backend systems, influence architectural direction through hands-on technical leadership, and deliver scalable, maintainable production code.

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

By submitting your application, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our Candidate Privacy Policy.

Fanatics will never ask candidates for money, banking information, or other sensitive personal information as part of the interview process. If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Fanatics recruiting, please do not respond and report it here.

Source: Fanatics Collectibles careers (Greenhouse)

Similar roles