Join our HQ team and help build the services that power the core administrative and operational experiences across our ecosystem. This role is for a senior engineer who can own backend outcomes end-to-end across the services the HQ web application depends on—designing durable APIs, strengthening reliability, and enabling the next phase of platform modernization.
You’ll help unify and strengthen the services behind HQ—working in a polyglot environment where Java is core and Go/TypeScript/Python support key capabilities—while improving how we deploy, scale, and operate on EKS with GitOps.
As a Senior Engineer, you’ll own critical backend services, APIs, and event-driven integrations that keep HQ experiences reliable and scalable. You’ll collaborate closely with frontend, product, data, and platform teams to drive performance, operational excellence, and clear technical patterns that other engineers and contractors can follow.
The outcomes you’ll deliver:
-Service reliability and scale: Design and maintain backend systems that support high-impact HQ workflows with predictable performance and resilience.
-API clarity and stability: Establish strong contracts, versioning strategies, and error standards that reduce ambiguity and improve integration quality.
-Event-driven maturity: Strengthen our data fan-out and cross-domain integrations using Kafka and event-driven design patterns.
-Operational excellence: Ensure services are observable, well-instrumented, and resilient with meaningful dashboards, alerts, and reliability practices.
-Team and delivery leverage: Raise the engineering bar through reusable patterns, reviews, documentation, and effective contractor guidance.
-Platform evolution: Help harden domain services and reduce unnecessary coupling to monolith surfaces without slowing product delivery.
In this role, you can expect to
- Design, implement, and operate APIs and services that power HQ web experiences.
- Work primarily in Java while collaborating across services written in Go, TypeScript, and Python.
- Build and evolve event-driven workflows with reliable publishing/consumption, schema discipline, and safe rollout patterns.
- Partner with frontend engineers to translate product requirements into clean, scalable API designs.
- Contribute to architectural decisions, RFCs, and pragmatic modernization of service boundaries and data models.
- Strengthen CI/CD and deployment safety using AWS, EKS, and a GitOps approach.
- Identify and eliminate bottlenecks through performance tuning, load testing, and data-driven scaling.
- Mentor engineers and lead contractors through high-signal code reviews, clear standards, and scoped technical direction.
- Participate in interviews, refine coding standards, and strengthen our engineering culture.
To thrive in this role, you have
- 5–8 years of professional software engineering experience, including designing and maintaining backend systems at scale.
- Strong skills in Java and familiarity with PostgreSQL or other relational databases.
- Experience with event-driven architecture and data fan-out technologies like Kafka.
- Experience with AWS services such as EKS, RDS, S3, SQS/SNS, and related cloud-native tooling.
- Deep understanding of API design, microservices architecture, and distributed systems.
- Solid understanding of observability, monitoring, alerting, and incident management.
- Strong delivery mindset with comfort owning systems through build, release, and production health.
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills—you thrive in cross-functional environments with product, design, and platform teams.
- A passion for reliable systems, clean code, and mentoring others.
- Golang experience is a plus, along with familiarity with TypeScript or Python services.
- Familiarity with modern data pipelines and orchestration tools (where relevant to HQ) is a plus.
HOW YOU PLAY
- Ownership over Participation- You take responsibility for achieving holistic outcomes, prioritize key objectives, and adapt quickly when situations require a different approach. You follow through even against the toughest challenges.
- Team over Stars- You are a bridge builder, establishing processes and relationships with teams outside your own. You work to rally around common goals, find win-win solutions, compromise when necessary, and help others succeed.
- Growth over Comfort- You are driven by a desire to grow and actively seek opportunities to expand your comfort zone, skills, and confidence. You embrace new challenges with curiosity, accepting discomfort and failure as opportunities to learn.
- Fairness over Popularity- You approach decisions with a scientist’s mindset, challenging your assumptions and remaining objective. You consider long-term impact rather than relying on short-term gains, proactively seek others’ perspectives, and manage emotions in decision-making.
Company Overview
PlayOn is a dynamic growth-stage company dedicated to championing the spirit of play in the high school space. Backed by KKR, our family of brands—including GoFan, NFHS Network, and MaxPreps—empowers schools with innovative solutions and exceptional service. Our fan engagement platform is the only one that offers event ticketing, streaming, fundraising, concessions, merchandise sales, and website management in one place. We save administrators time so they can focus on what truly matters: supporting the students, staff, and fans who bring their programs to life.
Trusted by thousands of schools across the country, we're here to help create more instant replays, hold-your-breath moments, last-minute comebacks, and games you want to watch over and over again.
When being there means everything, we make sure you never miss a moment.
Why you’ll love working at PlayOn
Product, potential, and people. We’re a leader in the high school event space, constantly evolving our product to meet the needs of administrators. We focus on solving real challenges, learning quickly, and creating impactful solutions.
This is a growth-stage company, meaning your contributions have real impact. You’ll have opportunities to grow your skills, tackle meaningful problems, and make a difference in the lives of schools and the students and fans they serve.
Our culture is built on accountability, collaboration, growth, and fairness. We don’t just show up—we show up for each other. Everyone wears the same jersey, and we play hard, make the extra pass, and cheer one another on. Losses teach us, challenges motivate us, and persistence drives us forward. We value integrity over shortcuts, choosing to do what’s right even when it’s hard. Together, we strive to be better every day—because we know that’s how we win as a team.
The Benefits We Offer
Multiple medical insurance plans to choose from
Dental, vision life and disability insurance
Employee Emergency Fund
Company equity (stock options)
Open PTO policy
401K plan with company match
Hybrid/flexible work environment
Note: Must be a full-time employee to participate in the company’s employee health benefit plan. Part-time employees and interns are not eligible to participate.
