Principal Software Engineer - Data Platforms

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. The company ignites the passions of global sports fans and maximizes the presence and reach for hundreds of sports partners globally by offering innovative products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans, a global partner network with over 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, teams, players associations, athletes, celebrities, colleges, and college conferences, and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail business stores.

As a market leader with more than 18,000 employees, and hundreds of partners, suppliers, and vendors worldwide, we take responsibility for driving toward more ethical and sustainable practices. We are committed to building an inclusive Fanatics community, reflecting and representing society at every level of the business, including our employees, vendors, partners and fans. Fanatics is also dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities where we all live, work, and play through strategic philanthropic initiatives.

The Data Platforms organization at Fanatics is at the heart of our company's data-driven decision making, building the foundational infrastructure that empowers our data engineers and ML engineers to unlock the power of data. We work on exciting projects across a diverse landscape, including:

1. Storage Infrastructure : Building and managing scalable and reliable data storage solutions.
2. Streaming Data Processing Engines : Handling real-time data pipelines with high throughput and low latency.
3. Data Orchestration Engines : Coordinating complex data processing workflows with efficiency and reliability.
4. Messaging Infrastructure : Ensuring secure and efficient communication between data systems.
5. Big Data Processing Engines : Analyzing massive datasets with speed and accuracy.
6. Data Warehouse : Providing a centralized and accessible repository for historical data.
7. Real Time OLAP Databases : Enabling fast and interactive data analysis for insights on the fly.
8. AI & ML Platforms : Building and maintaining a robust platform that supports the development and deployment of impactful ML models.

• We are seeking a passionate and experienced Principal Engineer to play a key role in shaping the future of our data platforms at Fanatics. As a technical leader in the organization, you will be responsible for driving technical innovation, leading large initiatives, and mentoring junior engineers. You will have the opportunity to contribute to building scalable solutions that will empower our entire company to make data-driven decisions.

• Design and drive the technical roadmap for the evolution of our data platforms, ensuring they are scalable, reliable, and meet the evolving needs of the business.
• Lead large initiatives within the Data Platforms organization, collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams including data engineering, ML engineering, and product management.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to junior engineers, fostering their growth and development within the team.
• Build data platforms that promote standardization, including data pipeline development, platform tooling, data lake formatting, and data democratization.
• Lead the development and implementation of a shared AI/ML infrastructure platform, accelerating the adoption and deployment of impactful ML models across the company.
• Build and maintain the AI/ML infrastructure to support Fanatics' AI/ML needs, with a focus on standardized MLOps practices.
• Champion data governance best practices, establishing and enforcing data processing principles, design patterns, and practices.
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships with data teams across the organization, influencing them to adopt best practices and collaborate effectively.

• 10+ years of experience leading the development of modern data architecture, analytics, data governance, AI/ML, or related areas.
• Strong expertise in the big data ecosystem, including tools like Kafka, Spark, Apache Iceberg, Airflow, S3, data modeling, data warehouses, OLAP databases, etc.
• Proven experience in data processing, orchestration, data engineering, and AI/ML domains.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across teams and provide clear and concise technical guidance.
• Experience with AI/ML platforms and a working knowledge of how data scientists leverage data for AI is a strong plus.

$225,000 - $270,000 a year

Things We Care About

·Your career growth, your ideas, your work-life balance, and your well-being.

·Diversity and Inclusion

·Our Company Culture and Values

·Providing outstanding Company Perks and Benefits

Company Overview

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform to ignite and harness the passions of fans and maximize the presence and reach for hundreds of partners globally. Optimizing these long-standing partnerships, a database of more than 80 million global consumers and a trusted, recognizable brand name, Fanatics is expanding beyond its position as a global leader for licensed sports merchandise to now becoming a next-gen digital sports platform, featuring an array of offerings for fans across the sports ecosystem.

At Fanatics, we’re a diverse, passionate group of employees aiming to ignite pride and passion in the fans we outfit, celebrate and support. We recognize that diversity helps drive and foster innovation, and through our IDEA program (inclusion, diversity, equality and advocacy) at Fanatics we provide employees with tools and resources to feel connected and engaged in who they are and what they do to support the ultimate fan experience.