--- title: 'Senior Software Engineer, Backend at Sleeper' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-backend-sleeper-san-francisco-gfpg3nrffht1' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-09' --- # Senior Software Engineer, Backend at Sleeper - **Company:** Sleeper - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $170k–$220k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-04-23 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sleeper/6ca0ab85-77a7-468f-a13f-4b4ad1e264ee/application **Skills:** Backend Software Engineering, Distributed Systems, SQL, NoSQL, RESTful APIs, GraphQL, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub, AWS, Docker, Cloud Computing, Elixir, Kubernetes, Go, Python, Node.js, Java, GCP > Design and build scalable, distributed backend systems for fantasy sports and DFS offerings. The role involves owning critical services, optimizing performance for millions of users, and collaborating cross-functionally to deliver innovative features like real-time contest engines and secure payments. ## Job description ## About Sleeper Sleeper is on a mission to connect people over sports through games and community. As one of the fastest-growing platforms in the fantasy sports and real-money gaming space, we're redefining how sports fans engage—whether it's through season-long leagues, pick'em contests, or real-time interactions with friends. Our team is lean, passionate, and product-driven. We obsess over user experience and believe that building delightful, fast, and reliable products is the best way to grow. Backed by some of the most respected investors in Silicon Valley, including Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, we're building the future of sports engagement. ## About the Role We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer - Backend to help us scale the core systems behind our fantasy sports and DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports) offerings. In this role, you'll build and own critical backend services, and collaborate with fellow engineers as we scale to support tens of millions of passionate sports fans. You'll collaborate cross-functionally to bring innovative features to life—from real-time contest engines and game logic to personalized content and secure, seamless payments. You'll own significant parts of the backend stack and help raise the bar for performance, scalability, and reliability at Sleeper. ## What You'll Do - Design and build core backend systems that power Sleeper's games and real-time user experiences—fantasy contests, Sleeper Picks, user profiles, leaderboards, and more. - Build scalable, distributed systems capable of handling millions of concurrent users with low latency and high availability. - Own backend initiatives from concept to deployment, ensuring clean interfaces, well-documented services, and resilient infrastructure. - Optimize system performance and proactively address bottlenecks through monitoring, profiling, and capacity planning. - Collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and frontend teams to deliver features that users love. - Contribute thoughtful code reviews and help strengthen backend engineering best practices and standards. ## Who You Are - 5+ years of backend software engineering experience. - Proven ability to build and scale distributed systems that serve millions of users in real-time or gaming environments. - Strong proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Python, Node.js, Java), and an understanding of trade-offs between them. - Solid knowledge of databases (both SQL and NoSQL), caching strategies, and message queues (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub). - Comfortable designing and maintaining RESTful and/or graphql APIs, data models, and internal tooling. - Cloud experience (AWS, GCP, or similar), with familiarity with containers (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes a plus). - Strong product mindset—you care about the why, not just the how, and you build with users in mind. - Excellent communication and collaboration skills. - Bonus: Proficiency in Elixir - Bonus: Passion for sports, gaming, or building multiplayer or real-time systems. Why Join Sleeper? - Massive Impact – Your work will touch millions of users and help shape the next generation of sports entertainment. - High Ownership – We trust our engineers to make high-leverage decisions and drive meaningful outcomes. - Startup Agility – Move fast, ship often, and see your work in the hands of users quickly. - Culture-First Team – We're a team of builders, thinkers, and sports lovers who value humility, collaboration, and having fun along the way. ## What We Offer - Competitive salary ($170,000–$220,000) /year not inclusive of stock options and benefits) - Equity - Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance - 401(k) - Generous PTO and flexible remote work policy - Opportunities for fast career growth in a high-impact role - A small, focused team where your contributions truly matter ## About Sleeper ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Sleeper is a mobile-first social fantasy sports platform that connects friends through games like fantasy football, basketball, daily fantasy sports, and pick’em contests. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series A, total funding $67.3M) - **Headquarters**: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (with additional offices in San Francisco, CA) - **Founded**: 2014 - **Founders**: Henry Leung and Ken Wang ## Core Business - **Primary industries**: Spectator Sports / Fantasy Sports / Mobile Gaming - **Target customers**: B2C – sports fans, casual to hardcore fantasy players (primarily in the US, expanding globally) - **Mission statement**: "Connect people over sports. We're building a digital playground for sports fans and their friends to hang out together." ## Products & Services - **Fantasy Football**: Traditional redraft, keeper, dynasty, and Chopped Leagues (weekly eliminations). Mobile and web-based SaaS. - **Fantasy Basketball**: Full season and daily fantasy basketball leagues with live scoring. - **Fantasy Esports**: Leagues for esports titles. - **Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS)**: Pick’em contests, survivor pools, bracket challenges. - **Fantasy Soccer (EPL, La Liga, etc.)**: Season-long and daily formats. - **Sleeper PICKS**: A simplified pick’em game where users pick winners each week (max payout 1000x). - **Bracket Mania**: March Madness bracket challenge. - **AI Content Creator (Contract)**: Product/service for content generation (noted in job postings). ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not disclosed (private company) - **Key Metric – Total Funding**: $67.3M across 6 rounds (Angel, Seed rounds, Series A led by General Catalyst, Venture round) - **Key Metric – Annual Revenue**: ~$2.5M (LinkedIn estimate) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: General Catalyst (Series A lead), Birchmere Ventures (Seed lead), and several angel investors. - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew ~40% YoY to 171 employees. - Monthly website traffic 1.8M visits, +7.1% monthly, +1.2% yearly. - Named #1 overall Sports App on iOS (2024). - Expanded into more sports (UFC, F1, Tennis, Golf) via curated content roles. - Partnership with influencer Donald “Deestroying” De La Haye. - Brand refresh and new logo announced in 2024. ## Competitive Advantages - **Social-first design**: Sleeper emphasizes group chats, live reactions, and easy friend invites – differentiating from more transactional fantasy platforms like ESPN or Yahoo. - **Innovative game modes**: Chopped Leagues, Survivor, Pick’em, and Bracket Mania keep engagement high year-round. - **Mobile-native UX**: Built from the ground up for smartphones, with a modern UI and fast performance. - **Strong community**: 19.6K LinkedIn followers, high social media engagement, and a loyal user base (bounce rate only 0.3%, 8.6 pages per visit). - **Multi-sport coverage**: Unlike many fantasy apps that focus only on football or basketball, Sleeper supports NFL, NBA, EPL, La Liga, esports, and more. ## Strategic Focus - **Content & creator partnerships**: Hiring AI content creators and sports content curators to build original media (e.g., “Kickin' It With Dee” show). - **International growth**: Expanding into markets like Canada, UK, Spain, Portugal, and Indonesia. - **Risk & trading (DFS)**: Opening Data Scientist and Software Engineer roles specifically targeting daily fantasy sports risk management and trading. - **Product design innovation**: Active hiring for Sr. Product Designer and User Research Intern – indicates focus on user experience research and iteration. ## Why Work Here - **Hybrid/Remote flexibility**: Most roles are listed as Hybrid (in-office for Las Vegas or San Francisco) with some fully remote options. Two physical office locations: Las Vegas HQ and San Francisco. - **Culture highlights**: Mission-driven (“connect people over sports”), fast-growing startup environment, strong emphasis on engineering quality and product design. - **Notable perks (from Built In)**: Not explicitly detailed in the search results, but typical startup perks include equity, health benefits, and free snacks/events; the company’s career page emphasizes making an impact. - **Engineering culture**: 18 technical employees (7% of workforce), tech stack includes TypeScript, Buildkite, Retool. Hiring for Senior Frontend (Mobile), Senior Backend, and Staff Backend roles. - **Recruiting warning**: Sleeper actively warns about scams – they never ask for money and always conduct interviews via Google Meet. ## Sources 1. [Sleeper Company Page](https://sleeper.com/company) 2. [Sleeper Jobs (Ashby)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sleeper) 3. [Built In – Sleeper Careers](https://builtin.com/company/sleeper) 4. [LinkedIn – Sleeper](https://gt.linkedin.com/company/sleeperhq) 5. [Sleeper Homepage](https://sleeper.com/) ## Other roles at Sleeper - [Senior React Native Engineer (Fantasy Sports)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-react-native-engineer-fantasy-sports-sleeper-san-francisco-rmq4s611hamw) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Web Engineer (Fantasy Sports)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-web-engineer-fantasy-sports-sleeper-san-francisco-5jf45ebhzymc) — San Francisco, CA - [User Research Associate (UX)](https://feeny.ai/job/user-research-associate-ux-sleeper-san-francisco-84emjf2az233) — San Francisco, CA - [UI Graphic Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/ui-graphic-designer-sleeper-seattle-ymh4pqbq7rj7) — Seattle, WA - [Computer Systems Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/computer-systems-analyst-sleeper-seattle-k7jpf5k27gr2) — Seattle, WA - [Product Design Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/product-design-intern-sleeper-seattle-tq7ksvbspt2p) — Seattle, WA - [Lifecycle Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/lifecycle-marketing-manager-sleeper-san-francisco-rq70zcgb6zpj) — San Francisco, CA / New York, NY - [User Research Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/user-research-intern-sleeper-san-francisco-czgpa23mf1wx) — San Francisco, CA - [AI Content Creator (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-content-creator-contract-sleeper-united-states-8g8ht47w5ac9) — United States - [Software Engineer, Backend](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-backend-sleeper-san-francisco-2pesr1qdcx6e) — San Francisco, CA