Software Engineering Manager

Hands-On Engineering Manager | Backend / Java | NYC

Learn more about the general tasks related to this opportunity below, as well as required skills.
I’m recruiting for one of the most recognizable organizations in Sports and Entertainment as they hire a Hands-On Engineering Manager to lead their backend platform.
This is not a traditional management-heavy role. Think Principal Engineer / player-coach.
You’ll spend roughly 70–80% of your time hands-on with the technology while mentoring a small backend team and helping shape the future architecture of systems operating at massive scale.
The engineering problems here are genuinely unique — real-time event and tracking data, high-volume APIs, live data distribution, internal and consumer-facing platforms, and systems that have to perform flawlessly when millions of users are interacting with the product at the same time.
What you’ll be doing:Remain deeply hands-on building backend systems in JavaOwn architecture and development of high-scale REST APIsDesign systems supporting real-time and event-driven dataWork across pre-event, live-event and post-event data distributionOwn backend infrastructure powering internal tools and consumer-facing productsEstablish API design and engineering standardsDesign and optimize complex relational data models in MySQLMentor and develop a small team of backend engineersHelp scale the backend engineering organization as the team grows
What they’re looking for:Deep production experience building backend systems in Java8+ years of backend software engineering experience3+ years focused on API design and architectureStrong REST API design experienceExcellent relational data modeling and MySQL fundamentalsExperience with query optimization and performance tuningExperience with Hibernate, Apache Cayenne or similar ORM technologiesSomeone who is still actively coding and technically sharpExperience mentoring and developing other engineersStrong architecture and system-design fundamentals
Python is a plus, as is experience with AWS, event-driven systems, streaming technologies, Docker, Kubernetes, distributed systems and high-traffic consumer platforms.
A background in Sports and Entertainment, media or real-time data would also be highly relevant, but it is not required.
What makes this opportunity particularly compelling is the combination of technical depth, visibility and stability.
You’ll work on technology and real-time data that simply does not exist in most engineering environments, while joining an organization known for strong quality of life and unusually long employee tenure.
This is ideal for a senior engineer who wants to step into leadership without giving up the part of the job they actually enjoy — building software.
NYC | Hybrid – 4 days/week onsite$180K base12–25% annual bonus + strong benefits
US work authorization required. No visa sponsorship available. xzbcwsv
If you’re a senior Java engineer, Principal-level IC or hands-on engineering leader who still wants to spend the majority of your time solving difficult technical problems, please apply.