---
title: 'Engineering Team Lead/Manager at Smarkets'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-team-lead-manager-smarkets-london-peaaxcff00k8'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-15'
---

# Engineering Team Lead/Manager at Smarkets

- **Company:** Smarkets
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-01-15
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/smarkets/59c8a1d1-25b6-4350-840c-9eb370d14330/application

**Skills:** Microservices, Linux, Kafka, Postgres, Kubernetes, Python, C++, Rust, Java

> Lead a team of software engineers building and maintaining microservices for Smarkets' prediction market platform. Responsibilities include driving sprint planning, hiring, and ensuring high-quality, scalable infrastructure using modern technologies like Rust and C++.

## Job description

Who are we? Smarkets: Predicting the Future of Betting Smarkets runs one of the world’s most sophisticated prediction markets, handling over £29 billion in volume since 2010 and engaging 200,000+ traders globally. We’re a technology company that happens to revolutionise betting - from sports to political markets, to delivering the sharpest prices and the fairest odds. Our stack is designed for scale, reliability, and speed: Linux, Kafka, Postgres, Kubernetes, with Python 3, Rust, C++17, and React powering our platform. We build infrastructure that institutions trust while keeping trading accessible to everyone. Our edge? We’ve thrived through every market cycle, competitor, and industry revolution. At the heart of our success are our people. We create a high-performance environment where exceptional talent can thrive, blending deep business experience with a commercial mindset to drive strategic growth. If you’re ready to help shape the future of prediction markets with cutting-edge technology and a customer-first philosophy, Smarkets is where you belong.

About the Role: As an Engineering Team Lead in our Engineering organisation, you are leading a team of software engineers who build, manage, and maintain the microservices that power Smarkets' products. You are here to help organise the direction of your team, guide their career growth, and ensure that we’re building the right stack to power the future of our products. You will be responsible for leveraging your team to ensure that our services are responsive, scalable, and performant. Ultimately, you will be working alongside your team of engineers, other engineering managers, technical leadership, and product managers, to drive the complex technical projects that help deliver the Smarkets product roadmap.

What you will do:

- You will report to the VP of Engineering.
- Directly manage a team of engineers, from junior to tech-leads
- Drive sprint planning, including proper scoping of tasks, working alongside our Program Management function
- Hire great people and keep them happy, motivated, and challenged
- Ensure the career growth of the engineers in your team as they advance in seniority
- Set the standard for quality engineering, including improving our engineering processes, to keep our level of excellence high
- Explore and define next technology adoption paths to help us build our stack for the future
- Represent the team in cross-functional meetings and internal events
- Be the champion of the stack by demonstrating first hand how to implement functionalities in the right way, with an eye to the horizon and your mind on the present

Role Requirements:

- 3+ years of experience building microservices for high speed and high scale products.
- 3+ years of experience working with a modern technology stack (Rust, C++, Java, etc)
- Previous experience leading a team technically or directly

## Our Values

Our values are at the heart of everything we do - guiding how we work, collaborate, and innovate. They reflect what we expect of ourselves and each other to deliver the best results, while fostering a positive, high-performing environment:

- Push to Win: We set ambitious goals and relentlessly pursue them, always striving for excellence.
- Make Others Better: We lift each other up, share knowledge, and celebrate team success over individual achievement.
- Give a Shit: We care deeply about our work, our users, and the impact we make.
- Be a Pro: We take ownership, act with integrity, and consistently deliver to a high standard.
- Bring the Energy: We bring positivity, curiosity, and enthusiasm to everything we do, inspiring those around us.

Culture Fit: These values define how we succeed as a team. If this isn’t you, this may not be the right place. We hire people who thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative, and ambitious environment.

## Perks & Benefits

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, alongside a dynamic, collaborative environment where your work truly makes an impact and your voice is heard. Our team is diverse, driven, and ambitious - united by a strong work ethic and a hunger to innovate and win. Our benefits are designed around Health, Wealth, and Development, supporting you both professionally and personally. These include:

- Stock Options: Vest over 4 years, your success is our success.
- Pension Scheme: Competitive plan via Aviva, with up to 6% matched contributions if you opt in.
- Health Insurance: Comprehensive coverage to keep you and your family healthy.
- Enhanced Parental Leave: Enhanced maternity and paternity leave to support you through life’s most important moments.
- Stay Fuelled: Enjoy fresh, chef-made breakfast and lunch every day, plus a constant supply of fruit, snacks, tea, coffee and soft drinks, because great work starts with great food.
- Cycle-to-Work Scheme: Support for sustainable commuting and staying active.
- Learning & Development: £1,000 annual education budget for courses, conferences, books, or training.
- Holiday: 25 days paid leave + bank holidays, with the option to carry over 5 days.
- Flexible Working: Hybrid model with 3 days in the office and 2 days from home to fit your lifestyle.
- Global Working: Work from anywhere in the world for up to 20 days a year.
- Team Energy: Regular socials, hackathons, and events — because collaboration and fun go hand-in-hand.

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 Talent Team about your experience and the role
- Hiring Manager Intro: Meet your potential Manager
- Technical Interview: Show off your coding skills
- Meet the team: Experience & Mindset Interview
- In-Office Interview: Lunch with other colleagues in the team + System Design Interview+ LT Chat

Diversity & Inclusion We’re an equal opportunities employer and celebrate diversity in all its forms. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know — we’re happy to accommodate your needs.

## About Smarkets

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Smarkets operates a peer-to-peer betting exchange and prediction market platform that allows users to back and lay outcomes on sports, politics, and current events with low commission and sharp pricing.
- **Entity Type**: Private (multiple funding rounds including Series B)
- **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom
- **Founded**: 2008
- **Founders**: Jason Trost (CEO), Hunter Morris, Donald Trost

## Core Business
- Primary industries: Financial Services, Betting & Prediction Markets, Exchange Technology
- Target customers: B2C (retail traders and bettors) and B2B (institutional market makers, algorithmic traders via API)
- Mission or purpose: "To revolutionise the betting industry by building a more fair, customer-focused betting experience" and "to build the infrastructure for how the world prices uncertain events."

## Products & Services
- **Smarkets Exchange**: A peer-to-peer betting exchange where users bet against each other rather than a bookmaker. Charges a default 2% commission on net winnings only (no commission on losses). Covers sports, politics, current affairs, and entertainment. Offers a full REST/Streaming API for algorithmic traders.
- **SBK Sportsbook App**: A sportsbook product launched in 2022 that provides a traditional fixed-odds betting experience alongside the exchange model.
- **Prediction Market Infrastructure**: The underlying platform processes billions in annual volume and is built on a modern tech stack (Linux, Kafka, Postgres, Kubernetes) with performance-critical systems in Rust and C++.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metrics**: 
  - Annual Revenue: GBP 11.9 million (source: LeadIQ)
  - Total Funding: Conflicting reports – LeadIQ states USD 3.7 million (over 5 rounds), while Wellfound states USD 33.7 million (Series B led by Susquehanna Growth Equity in 2021). 
  - Lifetime matched volume: Over £20 billion (source: pm.wiki)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Passion Capital (seed), Susquehanna Growth Equity (Series B), SailGP (three-year sports trading partnership)
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew 20.2% YoY (76 employees per LeadIQ, but firm claims 100+ team)
  - Actively pursuing a US CFTC Designated Contract Markets license to enter American prediction markets (announced March 2026)
  - Operates in 6 countries (UK, Malta, US, Costa Rica, Brazil, Portugal)
  - 1M+ customers worldwide

## Competitive Advantages
- **Low commission model**: 2% on net winnings only – significantly lower than rivals like Betfair (5–7%).
- **Proprietary market-making technology**: Consistently delivers sharper prices through deep liquidity and proprietary algorithms.
- **Modern tech stack**: Built on Linux, Kafka, Postgres, Kubernetes, with performance-critical components in Rust and C++20, and product surfaces in Python and React.
- **Longevity and resilience**: Founded in 2008, has survived multiple market cycles and competitors.

## Strategic Focus
- **US expansion**: Filing for CFTC license to enter the regulated US prediction market space.
- **Infrastructure for truth discovery**: Positioning itself as the infrastructure for pricing uncertain events across sports, politics, and emerging markets.
- **Continuous platform improvement**: Enhancing scalability, performance, and usability for both retail and algorithmic traders.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: "Intelligent, diverse individuals committed to making things better" – strong engineering culture with high autonomy for teams.
- **Remote/Hybrid policy**: Hybrid with a London HQ and Malta office; some roles listed as remote on Wellfound.
- **Notable perks**:
  - In-house chefs providing fresh, sustainable meals daily (rooftop kitchen, "lunch al fresco" encouraged)
  - Annual training budget of £1,000 per employee
  - Private health insurance (comprehensive)
  - Up to 6% pension match
  - Stock options
  - Enhanced parental leave
  - Cycle-to-work scheme
- **Engineering culture**: "High-performing teams that have control over the features they ship and the code they write" – modern tech stack and active hiring for senior engineers.

## Sources
1. [smarkets.com/careers](https://smarkets.com/careers/)
2. [linkedin.com/company/smarkets](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/smarkets)
3. [wellfound.com/company/smarkets](https://wellfound.com/company/smarkets)
4. [leadiq.com/c/smarkets](https://leadiq.com/c/smarkets/5a1d9348540000540077bdc2)
5. [pm.wiki/projects/smarkets](https://pm.wiki/projects/smarkets)

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