Senior Backend Engineer

About Sleeper

Sleeper is on a mission to connect people over sports through games and community. As one of the fastest-growing fantasy sports platforms in the world, we're building the next generation of fantasy leagues, pick'em contests, and social sports engagement. Our team is small, nimble, and passionate about sports, product, and people. With millions of active users and a vibrant community, we believe in putting the user experience first—always.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to help us scale our systems, build new features, and ensure a world-class experience for our users. As a senior engineer, you’ll work on the core services that power Sleeper—from real-time contest logic to user personalization, payments, and data infrastructure.

You’ll partner closely with other engineers, product managers, and designers to bring features from idea to production. This is a hands-on, impact-driven role for someone who loves building robust systems that can handle millions of users at scale.

What You'll Do

• Design and build backend systems that power core Sleeper experiences, including fantasy contests, Sleeper Picks, user profiles, and real-time game interactions.

• Work across the stack to develop APIs, services, and infrastructure that are reliable, scalable, and secure.

• Improve system performance and reliability through profiling, monitoring, and optimization.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and frontend teams to ship features end-to-end.

• Mentor and support other engineers, contributing to code reviews and engineering best practices.

• Own features from design to deployment, bringing a strong sense of ownership and product thinking to everything you build.

Who You Are

• 5+ years of backend engineering experience, ideally with high-scale, consumer-facing applications.

• Proficient in modern backend languages such as Python, Go, Node.js, or similar.

• Comfortable designing APIs, data models, and distributed systems.

• Experience working with relational and NoSQL databases, message queues, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or similar).

• Excellent debugging and problem-solving skills; able to quickly identify performance bottlenecks or system issues.

• Strong communication skills and a collaborative, team-first mindset.

• Bonus: Passion for sports, gaming, or fantasy leagues.

Why Join Sleeper?

• Impact: You'll work on a product used by millions of fans, with a direct line to how users experience the app.

• Ownership: We trust our engineers to own their domains and make decisions that matter.
  Culture: We’re a tight-knit team with a collaborative mindset and a love for all things sports and tech.

• Growth: Be part of a high-growth startup where you’ll wear many hats, learn fast, and grow even faster.

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

What we offer

Sleeper believes in quality over quantity, and intentionally keeps our team small as a result. In past roles, we found it very hard to make a big impact when companies grow too large in size, which has a detrimental effect on the product and the impact any single individual can have. Our team includes designers, engineers, product experts, and finance & operation focused on one thing — connecting people over sports. We believe in fair and equitable pay. Certain locations in the United States require job postings to include a reasonable estimate of the base salary range and/or a general description of benefits and other compensation applicable to the role.

Competitive salary plus benefits including Medical, Dental, PTO, 401k.  Please note that The salary range for this role ($140,000 to $240,000 per year salary)  takes into account a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The policy of Sleeper is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, citizenship status, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status and to affirmatively seek to advance the principles of equal employment opportunity. Sleeper is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers, including job seekers with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access the Company’s career webpage as a result of your disability. You may request reasonable accommodations by sending an email to jobs@sleeper.app.

Headquartered in Las Vegas, NV, Sleeper is backed by Silicon Valley’s top investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Expa.
To learn more, visit us online at: www.sleeper.com